


Intersecting Sight

by mydetheturk



Series: Intersection [1]
Category: One Piece
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Big Bang Challenge, Canon-Typical Violence, Canonical Character Death, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-04-24
Updated: 2015-04-24
Packaged: 2018-03-25 12:24:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 32,577
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3810298
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mydetheturk/pseuds/mydetheturk
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Coby is an unlucky young man stuck on a pirate ship doing chores. One day he meets Luffy, a rookie pirate with a straw hat and huge smile and everything changes for the better.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> So I wrote this for the OP Big Bang 2015. When I had originally started writing this, I had no intention of ending where I did. But this semester happened, and I had a lot of classes and not a lot of time. Consider this part one of at least 2, probably 3.
> 
> [Here's a link to the corresponding art](http://rowthesea.tumblr.com/post/117259420656/), drawn by the wonderful [rrooossiiiee](http://rrooossiiiee.tumblr.com/) of tumblr.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In which Coby meets Luffy and his life Changes for the Better

_The full effects upon first seeing your soul mate can take up to half an hour to stabilize. Color will seep into your sight, fastest on your soul mate, and slower spreading outwards from them. From completion, the colors will always be brightest and most vibrant on your soul mate, but that is not to say that the rest of the world is dull and devoid of color after you’ve seen them. The world is still colorful, but not quite as bright as on your soul mate._

_Usually, soul mates become close friends, if not lovers. Soul mates have a lasting connection for the rest of their lives._

_The death of one’s soul mate before one’s own death marks the disappearance of all color, returning the world to shades of grey. People do live past their soul mate's death, but they are typically less happy and more depressed. It as if the light in their life is gone._

Day in and day out, Coby swept. He mopped the deck, moved barrels and other items, complimented Alvida, and tried to avoid getting his face smashed in. He sighed and kept mopping, slowly cleaning the deck.

That particular day didn't seem any different from the others when it started.

He glanced up when he heard one of Alvida's crew say something about seeing a cruise ship and looked back down, going back to his mopping. _Maybe,_ he thought _, she'll ignore me and I can just mop this and won't have any new bruises tonight._

"Alright maggots," Coby heard Alvida yell. "There's a cruise ship ripe for the pickings right there. We want it and all of its treasure."

Coby paused, swallowed heavily, and sighed. Trembling slightly, he stood in place for a moment before hurrying toward the door to below deck to make it look like he was doing something.

"Coby," came Alvida's sickeningly sweet voice. Coby froze where he was. "Who is the most beautiful woman in all of the seas?"

He spun around, plastering a bright smile on his face. "That would be you, Captain Alvida," he said, hoping with what little hope he had that she wouldn't hit him with her mace this time. He closed his eyes behind his glasses, brightening his smile a bit, scratching the back of his head sheepishly. He held his frame for a few tense moments.

"Very good Coby. See boys, Coby knows exactly who is the best here," Alvida said. She smiled broadly, though it was more of a smirk than an actual smile. She stepped over to Coby, who was hiding just how badly he was trembling. She placed a hand on his shoulder. "Now get back to work!" She shoved him forward, and Coby waved his arms wildly, losing his grip on the mop and tripping over it in his attempt not to fall.

Falling anyway, one foot caught on the mop and the other got stuck in a ridge on the deck. His hands slammed on the deck, and Coby hissed, a sharp pain going up his wrists. Wincing, Coby disentangled himself from the mop and pushed himself up, pasting a smile back on his face.

He ignored the sting in the base of his palms, still smiling. He laughed nervously, rubbing the back of his neck and stepping backwards towards the door below deck. When he made it below deck, Coby breathed a sigh of relief. Inspecting his palms, Coby checked for any splinters or blood. There were small droplets of blood welling up in the base of his palm, and Coby sighed, licking the blood off of his hand. He thumbed the base of his palm, making sure nothing felt off. It stung, but nothing felt strange.

Coby huffed once, picking up the mop and placing it below the stairs. He plopped down beside the mop and took off his glasses, placing them in his lap. Coby spent the next couple of minutes with his hands on his face or in his hair.

After pulling himself together, Coby put his glasses back on and stood back up, readjusting the mop and walking quickly to a spot near the prow of the ship. He made himself look busy by moving around small black powder kegs and inconsequential cannon balls. Coby kept himself out of the way, sticking to loading black powder into one cannon.

There was a jerking motion and Coby grabbed onto the cannon to ride it out, scraping up his hands more in the process.

He heard Alvida yell, “Board her, lads!” and watched as the cannons were abandoned as men moved to above deck, scurrying to board the cruise ship. Coby weighed his options, biting his lip as he thought. Finally, he sighed, thinking, _I’m doomed_ , and followed the others above deck.

Coby moved to the main deck and joined the others by the rail. He was nervous, looking back and forth, inspecting the cruise ship Alvida’s vessel had sailed up to. The cruise ship was an elegant display of East Blue sophistication, all beauty and grace in the water. Coby breathed heavily through his nose, mentally calculating the bruises he would get if he didn’t get on the cruise liner and instead hid out on Alvida’s ship. He knew she couldn’t kill him – Coby was too good of a navigator for her to just get rid of if he angered her. Coby made a tiny noise in the back of his throat as the realization that Alvida probably would up and kill him if he angered her too much struck him.

Coby made another small noise in the back of his throat, swallowing loudly and gripping the rail tight. Biting his lip, Coby watched as Alvida’s ship, the Miss Love Duck, pulled up beside the cruise liner. The pirates on either side of him were grinning madly, and Coby was worried, fidgeting as some of the bigger men on the crew lined up beside him. For one long, distressing moment, the Miss Love Duck silently slid through the water, drawing up alongside the cruise ship.

When the Miss Love Duck had drifted close enough, Alvida shouted, “There’s treasure aboard her, lads!” and the crew gave a cheer, throwing their hands in the air. Coby gulped nearly inaudibly during the collective shout.

Pirates boarded the cruise ship, and Coby shifted slightly backwards, a look of distress crossing his face.

“Where do you think _you’re_ goin’?” Coby heard. He had backed into one of the crew. The pirate had a huge grin and Coby quailed slightly upon seeing it. “Across you go,” the pirate said, gripping the back of Coby’s shirt, right by the collar and lifting him. The pirate’s grin widened until it was shark-like in appearance.

“No! No, wait!” Coby yelped, screaming a bit as the pirate pulled him clean off his feet and bodily threw Coby onto the cruise ship. Coby hit the wall face first with a thud, despite using his arms as a cushion to prevent too much damage to his head. He got up off the ground automatically readjusting his glasses and shaking his head as he moved. Feeling up his nose and making sure the impact with the wall hadn’t broken it, Coby looked around. All around him, people were panicking – screaming and hollering as Alvida’s pirates invaded the cruise ship. Coby blinked at the clamoring crowd a few times before turning around and going in the other direction, away from the panicking party goers. He went down an empty hallway, checking the doors periodically. Coby didn’t particularly want to steal anything – didn’t want to be on a pirate crew at all, really – but he knew that if he didn’t bring at least something back, there would be hell, and he would probably be stuck cleaning the bathing room of the ship for a month, if he was lucky.

If he wasn’t, well, Coby had seen enough men get their skulls caved in by Alvida’s titular iron mace to want to be very lucky. So Coby roamed the quieter parts of the cruise ship, silently worrying his way through, trying to find something he could easily move around that was worth something.

Turning a corner, Coby ran into a barrel, nearly barreling the barrel over. He toppled to the ground.

Blinking at the barrel, Coby stood up carefully, eyes never leaving it. He moved around the barrel, inspecting it without touching it. Gently, Coby shoved the barrel and sprang back a few feet. When nothing happened, Coby breathed a sigh of relief. With a few quick hard shoves, Coby had the barrel on its side and was rolling it down the hallway.

“There has to be wine or something in here,” Coby said to himself. “This is ridiculous.” He kept the barrel rolling down the hall and proceeded to trip over his own feet. The barrel escaped from him and rolled into an open doorway. Making an annoyed noise, Coby pushed himself up off the floor and frowned at the barrel. He pursed his lips together and stalked over to the barrel, righting it.

“You’re more trouble than you’re worth,” he muttered. Coby circled the barrel again, checking for dinks and dents. Once he saw that nothing had been damaged, he huffed loudly. “There had better be something good in here.” Coby sighed and got behind the barrel to shift it again.

There was a loud thump.

Coby fell backwards and stared in disbelief at the barrel. He blinked a few times but nothing further happened. “What the….?” he murmured, moving to stand again.

The door slammed open.

Coby jumped again, landing once again on his ass.

“Heya Coby.” It was some of the other pirates in Alvida’s crew, ones Coby had always tried to avoid. “Whatcha up to?”

“Whatcha find?” another asked, sauntering forward.

Coby started sweating. “A b-barrel,” he stuttered, slowly standing. “There’s something in it.” Coby forced himself to stand straight, though he was trembling minutely. “Wine maybe,” he lied. He grinned reluctantly, though it quickly faded.

And though Coby’s grin faded, the other crewmen’s simply grew sharper. “Well then, maybe we should have a drink before takin’ it to the captain, shouldn’t we?”

Coby swallowed nervously, watching the crewmen.

“Coby ain’t gonna tell anyone, now are ya?” the first asked, moving around the barrel to sling and arm around Coby’s neck.

“O-of course I wouldn’t tell!” Coby replied, trying not to shake. “I would _never_ tell.”

“Good.” The pirate stopped hanging on Coby and moved to the barrel where the other two were already on either side of it. “Well boys, let’s have ourselves a drink,” he said, pulling a knife from a pocket.

“Yahoo!” the barrel shouted while exploding. Coby squeaked and fell again and the other pirates yelled loudly in their surprise. A young man stretched broadly and yawned. “Man that was a nice nap,” he said. He readjusted the straw hat sitting on his head.

There was a flicker of something in the corner of Coby’s eye, but he focused on the young man that had burst out of the barrel.

“What in the hell?” one pirate yelled from his spot on the floor.

“Let’s get out of here boys, this isn’t worth it,” another said, pushing himself to his feet. The other two did as well, and the three pirates hurried out the door, getting stuck for a moment in the doorframe.

Coby blinked for a minute at the guy that exploded the barrel as the young man laughed a bit. “Who are you?” he asked, slowly getting go his feet. Coby rubbed at one eye – something was crossing his vision.

“Monkey D. Luffy,” he answered, grinning broadly. “I’m going to be the next Pirate King!” The grin widened and Coby looked at him – Luffy, his name was Luffy, in a dumbfounded manner.

“Y-you’re going to try to get the ‘One Piece’?” Luffy nodded brightly. “B-but that’s impossible! It’s completely impossible. Only one man’s ever sailed all the way around the world and been the Pirate King and it’s so very impossible!” Coby yelped, scratching at his eye. It was like something was stuck in it and he couldn’t get whatever it was out. “It’s impossible to be the Pirate King!”

Luffy just stared at Coby for a minute. “I don’t think I like you,” he said, picking his nose casually.

Coby was struck speechless. Then he sighed, eyes dropping. Blinking a few times, Coby finally registered the flicker that had crossed his vision mere moments before. He looked sharply at Luffy. “N… no. No. This… this can’t be happening. This isn’t possible; it can’t be happening,” he murmured, his voice slowly growing in volume. “This is so completely impossible that it might as well be in another Blue, it is that impossible. Completely and utterly!” Coby started picking up pace. “I can’t believe this is happening. This isn’t happening right now, it’s impossible. It’s just a really weird dream – I can’t- OW! What was that for?” Coby rubbed his head where Luffy had hit it.

Luffy shrugged. “Felt like it,” he said.

Coby sighed dejectedly, looking away before muttering, “Not like I’m not used to it.” A moment later he looked at Luffy again, distracted by just how bright Luffy’s vest was.

“Besides,” Luffy said, “I’m not afraid to die. It’s my dream.”

Coby stared at Luffy in amazement. “…not even dying…?” he whispered, thoughts running through his head.

“Could be tough though.” Luffy reached up and readjusted his hat. “Might even get hairy.” His grin was a little manic.

“If… if that’s possible, then… then maybe…” Coby muttered, rubbing the bridge of his nose right beneath his glasses. Tears pooled in the corners of his eyes. “Maybe my dream isn’t impossible either.”

“Huh?” Luffy looked at Coby with a confused expression on his face. “What are you saying?”

“Does this mean my dream’s not impossible?” Coby asked. “Does this mean I could become a marine?”

“A marine? I guess,” Luffy shrugged.

“I know it means we’ll be enemies!” Coby said, surging to his feet. “But it’s always been my dream!” Tears threatened to roll down his cheeks. “Do you think I could do it?”

“I don’t know, maybe,” Luffy replied.

“I have to at least try. I’d rather die trying to get out of here and join the marines than stay here as a caretaker.” Coby fisted his hands in his hair. “Then I can arrest pirates like Captain Alvida.”

Luffy blinked and then smiled brightly.

“COOOOOOOOBBYYYYYYYYY!!!” Alvida yelled from somewhere in the ship.

Coby froze, the blood draining from his face. _Shit_ , he thought.

“Your name is Coby?” Luffy asked. Coby nodded absently, mentally steeling himself.

Coby gritted his teeth together. “I’ve been on this ship for the last two years, taking care of it and navigating. I will _leave_ , even if it kills me,” he said, desperation crossing his face.

Luffy grinned. A concerned look flashed in Coby’s eyes.

“What? What are you thinking?”

Luffy’s grin only widened and he grabbed Coby’s hand. “You’ve got a dream, yeah? Why don’t you follow it?”

Coby swallowed and tightened his grip on Luffy’s hand. He nodded and took a breath. Coby let go of Luffy’s hand and as he stood up and dusted himself off, the wall shattered in.

Alvida smirked at the two amongst the destroyed walls. “Found you,” she said, hefting her spiked mace across her shoulders.

Coby sucked in a breath, eyes growing wide and his hands fisting on their own.

“So boys,” Alvida began, “who’s the most beautiful woman on the seas?” Her fingers tapped the hilt of the mace. “Coby?”

Automatically, Coby’s hand shifted so that he was rubbing the back of his head. “Of course that’s…” he trailed off, blinking suddenly. “That’s not you, because you are the rudest damned bitch!” he shouted. The blood drained from his face as he realized what he’d said. _Oh well_ , he thought, _I have made my bed and now I’m going to lie in it._

Luffy laughed. “Good one, Coby.”

Alvida looked furious, and she gripped the hilt of her mace hard and shifted to slam it down on Coby’s head.

Looking up at Alvida’s mace, Coby thought, Don’t regret this. This is a fight for your dream.

“Well said Coby,” Luffy said, shoving Coby behind him. Alvida slammed her mace down onto Luffy’s head. Coby let out a squeak, knowing full well what that mace was capable of. “That won’t work on me,” Luffy said, smirking. “Cause I’m a rubber man.”

“That’s impossible!” Alvida shrieked. “My mace!”

Coby watched as Luffy yelled, “ _Gomu gomu no pistol_!” while punching Alvida in the face and launching her backwards. The whole group of people watching stood there in shock as Luffy loudly declared, “My name’s Monkey D. Luffy, and I’m the man who will be Pirate King!”

Coby laughed a little, more from hysteria than hilarity. Someone whispered, “Did his arm just stretch?” Coby dropped to the ground once more.

Luffy cracked his knuckles. “Now. Someone prepare a boat for Coby. He’s going to join the marines and you can’t stop him.” He pointed at the pirates.

A few nodded, one said “Yes” just loud enough to be heard, but most were silent. A couple of pirates disappeared to get a boat. Coby just watched, shocked that someone like Luffy would do that for him.

“Thank you,” Coby said quietly. His eyes roamed the surroundings, taking in the colors of his surroundings. He was trying to process everything that had happened in the last half hour or so. He frowned a little, wrapping his arms around himself.

Luffy laughed. “Not a problem.” Luffy smiled brightly, readjusting his hat with one had.

Coby glanced up at him. “Do you really think I can be a marine?” he asked, looking back at the pirates. His voice was still soft and quiet.

“Course I do,” Luffy said. “It’s your dream, yeah?” Luffy was still smiling, though his voice was quiet to match Coby’s.

“Yeah. It’s always been my dream,” Coby replied. “I know we’ll be enemies, but this is something I have to do.”

Luffy grinned a small grin. “I get it. Hey, wanna sail together? Just to the next island?”

Coby blinked. “Uh… sure.” He rubbed at his nose with the back of his hand. “I think the closest island is a Marine Base.”

“We’ll go there then.” Luffy seemed to nod to himself, stretching out once more. He stuck a hand down towards Coby, giving him a hand up. “Hey! Is that boat ready?”

A pirate jumped, but one of his fellows yelled back, “Yeah. Ain’t big though.”

Luffy laughed and waved him off. “Let’s go!” he said to Coby, sending one arm to where the boat was situated. He grabbed Coby with the other arm and launched them across the ship to the little boat the pirates had acquired for them.

Coby managed not to scream, though it was a close thing.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In which Coby and Luffy meet Zoro and Coby becomes a Chore Boy

“Wow you’re good at this,” Luffy said.

Coby grinned sheepishly. “It was one of the reasons I was still on Alvida’s ship. I’m good at navigation.” He shrugged a little. “I mean, I’m not the greatest, but if I’m still in East Blue, I’ll be okay.”

Luffy laughed a bit. “That’s so cool,” he said. Coby just looked away and smiled, not used to people thinking something he did was cool.

Looking up at the sky, Coby noticed light fluffy clouds had started forming, though they were few, but not quite far between. He blinked at the sky in shock. “Whoa…” he whispered. The clouds were tinted pink – _Was that actually pink?!_ – and Coby stared in wonder at the sight.

Luffy tipped his head to the side when Coby whispered and looked up. “That is amazing,” he agreed, grinning widely.

Coby scanned the sky until he spotted the sun. “Oh. The sun’s setting soon.” He watched the sky a bit more. “Wow,” he breathed.

Waves rocked the boat as the two boys watched the sun set.

“I’ve never seen a sunset that beautiful,” Coby said, taking the ropes for the sail back in hand.

“Same. That was amazing.” Luffy laughed.

Coby froze. Surely Luffy hadn’t meant what Coby had thought he meant. “What do you mean?” he asked tentatively.

Luffy shrugged. “I’ve never seen a sunset that bright. It was pretty.”

Coby sat in thought for a minute as the sky darkened enough that stars were appearing on the far horizon. “Luffy… can you see in color?”

“Yep!” Luffy’s cheerful response answered Coby’s question. Luffy leaned up from where he was laying in the prow of the boat. He looked Coby dead in the eyes. “You can too?” Coby nodded. “Cool.”

Luffy’s grin was infectious, and Coby found himself grinning back. However, his grin quickly fell. “So, um, how long have you been able to see colors?” he asked quietly.

Luffy was still grinning. “Today,” he chirped.

Coby blinked. He knew the reason he was seeing in colors was because of Luffy, but he didn’t’ think he was the one to make Luffy see in color. “Wait… are you seeing in color because of me?” Coby was astonished that he could have that kind of impact on someone’s life.

Luffy just nodded. “Probably. You’re really bright.” One shoulder moved in a half shrug and that was that.

Coby bobbed his head in an agreeing motion. He delicately shifted the rope so that the boat’s sail caught what little wind there was and tied it down. “Another day, maybe a little more,” he muttered, tapping the line for security.

“How do you know all this?” Luffy asked, watching Coby tie the sail’s rope.

Coby shrugged a little. “I went fishing a lot before I was on Alvida’s ship. Some of the other fishermen taught me some basic sailing techniques.”

Luffy’s brow furrowed as he considered this. “You know,” he started, “you never told me how you managed to get on Alvida’s ship.”

Coby could feel himself flushing as he remembered exactly how he’d gotten onto the ship in the first place. “It was an accident,” he said, looking away from Luffy. “I was going out fishing and got on the wrong boat.” He bit at his bottom lip. “I didn’t realize I was on the wrong boat until we’d gotten to Alvida’s ship. By then I was stuck.” He looked back at Luffy, sure that he was still blushing. “How’d you end up in a barrel, anyway?” he asked.

There was just enough moonlight peeking through the slight cloud cover for Coby to see Luffy’s grin. “I was caught in a whirlpool,” Luffy announced.

Coby just stared for a minute. “How is that even _possible_?” Coby wanted to know.

Luffy just laughed that peculiar laugh that Coby had come to associate with genuine amusement in the short time they’d known each other. “Well, I was sailing in my little boat not long before I met you and I sailed right into a whirlpool. There was a barrel on my boat so I hopped in.”

Coby let out a little bark of laughter that surprised them both. Luffy laughed too, and that set Coby off once more, the two laughing together in the middle of East Blue as dusk fell quickly into night.

They traded stories and little anecdotes for a good while, until the moon was rising high in the sky and the air was starting to chill them both.

Coby found a couple of blankets under a lidded box built into a bench along the aft. He pulled one out and held it up. “Blanket?” Luffy chirped an affirmative and Coby tossed it at him, grabbing the blanket under it and tossing the first at Luffy.

Coby wrapped the blanket around his shoulders and tucked himself into a corner of the boat. Luffy stretched and yawned, draping the blanket across his lap.

“Tomorrow’s the day,” Coby said, wedging himself into the corner.

“Yep. Night,” Luffy chirped, sprawling on the deck of the tiny boat.

Coby returned the sentiment and curled up in the blanket. He stared at the stars for a while before he took off his glasses and tucked them into the blanket with him.

When Coby opened his eyes, the sun was just peeking over the horizon. He blearily blinked at the sunrise for a few moments before pushing himself out of the corner. At some point during the night he’d shifted so that he was lower in the boat and he’d lost his glasses as well. Huffing a little, Coby stood, shaking the blanket off. His glasses clattered to the deck and he carefully folded the blanket before picking them up. Putting his glasses on, Coby looked around, checking for anything on the horizon. There was a dark line on the horizon, and Coby narrowed his eyes at it.

It had to be the island they were heading for – the trajectory Coby had sent them on through the night had put them on a direct course for the closest Marine base. Nodding to himself, Coby untied the ropes and shifted the sail so they were headed towards the island. He guessed they probably had half a day or a bit more until they actually reached the island.

Coby took some time to enjoy the early morning – he’d always enjoyed mornings, and more than once being a happy person so early had gotten him his fair share of odd looks from people. He leaned back and soaked in the early morning sun, making sure to angle the boat towards the dark patch on the horizon.

A while later Coby heard a sharp bird cry. He looked up to where he thought he’d heard the sound and saw a seagull flying above the boat. He frowned, thinking that perhaps they were closer to the island than he’d thought originally.

Yawning drew his attention away from the seagull to Luffy, who was stretching his limbs in the morning sunlight. “Morning,” Coby chirped. “We’ll be to the island about mid-afternoon,” he continued when Luffy looked at Coby as though he was a puzzle to be figured out.

Luffy just nodded and Coby figured he was probably still half-asleep, so he smiled and rolled his eyes, shifting his focus back to navigating the small boat that had gotten them as far as it had.

The two sailed in silence except for the occasional sea bird until Luffy finally woke up fully. Then there was non-stop chatter as Luffy asked Coby things and Coby answered and vice versa, until Coby got to the question that had been forming in the back of his mind all morning.

“So, you actually ate the Rubber Devil Fruit. Yeah?” he asked when he’d finally gained the courage.

“Yep,” Luffy responded.

“That’s surprising,” Coby muttered. “Well…” He hesitated. “If you’re going to find the One Piece and become the Pirate King –” and by this point Coby was fairly certain that Luffy very well would be Pirate King, “– you’re going to have to go to the Grand Line, yeah?”

Coby had been sitting on that question since Luffy had announced that he would be the next Pirate King the day previous.

Luffy nodded. “Yeah, that’ll be tough.”

Coby frowned, his brow furrowing. “Luffy, the Grand Line is more dangerous than all four Blues put together,” he stated bluntly. “It’s known as the Pirate’s Graveyard.”

“Yeah,” Luffy agreed with uncommon seriousness. “That’s why I need a strong crew.” Luffy looked at his hand and fisted it. “And someone I plan on asking is at the place you’re going to.” Coby looked at Luffy and cocked his head in confusion. “Roronoa Zoro.”

The name caught Coby off guard. “Roronoa Zoro?!” he nearly screeched, disturbing a seagull that had decided to perch on the top of the mast.

Luffy laughed. “If he’s a good guy, I want him on my crew.”

“You can’t do that! He’s a monster!”

“But what if he is a good guy. Then I definitely want him on my crew.” Luffy grinned, a manic glint in his eyes.

“No way!” Coby countered. “Not someone that scary.”

“Scary?”

“Yeah. Rumors say that he wanders the sea hunting down fugitives. They say he’s like a bloodthirsty hound.” Coby’s brow furrowed as he thought. “They say he’s a monster in a man’s form.”

“Really?” Luffy asked, facing Coby from where he was perched on the prow of the ship.

Coby nodded. “Really. So let’s drop the recruiting him idea?”

“I haven’t decided if I’m going to recruit him yet! Besides, what if he _is_ a good person,” Luffy stressed.

“He was arrested because he’s bad!” Coby said, throwing his hands in the air.

“You are not going to let that go, are you?” Luffy asked.

“No!”

Luffy sighed and asked when they were going to get to the island. Coby checked and mentally ran figures as he guessed, “Maybe two hours?”

Luffy nodded a couple of times and the boat fell silent as they sailed, soaking in the early spring sunlight.

A couple of hours later, just as Coby had said, they sailed the little boat into the harbor of the island the Marine base was on.

“Wow! We actually made it to the island!” Luffy exclaimed, looking around at the island. “You’re pretty great!”

“Huh? Well… yeah? That’s what navigating is all about?” Coby replied. “You can’t be a pirate if all you’re doing is floating around.” He tied the little boat up to the dock and they both hopped out. “You really need a navigator.”

Luffy appeared to ignore Coby by declaring loudly that they were going to go find somewhere to eat. Coby huffed in amusement as they walked around town a bit to find a restaurant or tavern so they could have lunch.

“Man that was good,” Luffy said when he’d finished his meal.

“It was,” Coby agreed.

“Welp. We’ll go our separate ways here. You do your best to be a great marine.”

Coby sniffled, then aggressively rubbed at his eyes. “I will. Thank you so much for everything Luffy.” Tears pooled in the corners of Coby’s eyes, blurring the colors that he’d gotten used to seeing over the last day and a half. “You go and become the greatest pirate, got it? Even though we’ll be enemies…”

“Yep.” Luffy’s expression turned curious. “I wonder if Zoro’s still at that Marine Base,” he said aloud.

There was a collective gasp from the other patrons at the tavern, and the sound of dishes being thrown and broken was almost deafening. A mere half a moment later, the establishment was quiet enough that Coby could have sworn he could hear a pin dropping with perfect clarity. He leaned over the table and cupped his hand, whispering to Luffy. “I don’t think we should yell Zoro out loud.” Luffy nodded back, a pensive look crossing his face. “I saw a sign on a post outside. Looks like there’s someone called Captain Morgan at the base.” There was more crashing and clattering at Coby’s statement.

The two boys looked at each other, the restaurant patrons, and back, coming to the silent agreement to just leave quietly.

Outside on the street, Luffy started laughing. “I’m going to have to go back there some time,” he said, once he’d finally stopped. “That was hilarious.”

Coby, however, was thinking about the reactions of the people. “I wonder what happened and why they would react like that,” he murmured. “Luffy, I have a bad feeling about this.”

Luffy looked at Coby with a confused look on his face.

“I mean, I know why they’d have that sort of reaction from hearing Roronoa Zoro’s name – he could escape at any time, and he’s a pirate hunter, but…” Coby trailed off, but steeled his nerves and powered through. “But why would they do the same thing when they heard a Marine Captain’s name?”

“Maybe he did something bad,” Luffy offered.

“That’s impossible!” Coby squawked indignantly.

“I’m serious,” Luffy said.

The next few moments were suffered in terse silence as Coby contemplated what could have happened to cause the reactions it did.

They came upon the Marine base.

“Huh. It’s a lot uglier up close,” Luffy said bluntly. Coby silently agreed a bit with the statement. This particular base looked, for lack of a better word, shabby. “Go ahead, Coby.”

Coby looked over at Luffy, startled for a brief second. “B-but I’m not prepared,” he stuttered, feeling a faint flush spread over his face. “Besides, I’ve been thinking about what happened at that restaurant and… What are you doing?”

Luffy was walking up to the wall that surrounded the base. “Monster, huh? Wonder where he is…” Luffy said, climbing the wall to look over it.

“You can’t find him that easily,” Coby said with a straight face. “They’ve probably got him locked up in a cellar or a prison cell or something.”

Luffy dropped from the wall and turned to run along it. “I saw something over there! I’m gonna check it out.”

Coby was silent, blinking at Luffy in disbelief. Then he followed, curious as to what Luffy was getting himself into. Luffy jumped up onto the wall, hanging on tight, saying, “Look at that person,” just as Coby climbed up beside him.

In his shock, Coby dropped to the ground from where he was on the wall. “You okay?” Luffy asked.

“The black bandanna…. That green haramaki…. That aura….” Coby shivered. “That has to be Roronoa Zoro. He _has_ to be.”

Luffy kept looking at Roronoa Zoro over the wall. “Those ropes look really easy to break. Why doesn’t he just break out?”

Coby sprang to his feet. “Are you kidding? If you untied him he could wreak havoc on the town and maybe even kill you!” He climbed up the wall to whisper angrily into Luffy’s ear.

“Hey you,” called a voice before Coby could speak. “Mind untying me? I’ve been here for nine days and I’m exhausted.” Coby and Luffy looked over to where Roronoa Zoro was tied up, knowing that he was the one who had to have spoken.

 _Tied up for over a week? Is he okay?_ were Coby’s first thoughts, before he ducked down after realizing that Roronoa Zoro had talked to them.

“He’s smiling,” Luffy said, a grin spreading across his face.

“H-he’s talking,” Coby muttered, sinking down to hid behind the wall.

“I can pay you for getting me out of here,” Roronoa said. “I’ll hunt down a fugitive and give you the bounty.” Coby watched as dark red blood rolled down Roronoa’s cheek. “I keep my word.”

“Don’t do it Luffy,” Coby hissed. “If you let him go, he’ll kill us and escape!”

Luffy was still grinning though. “He can’t kill me. I’m too strong.”

Coby gave Luffy a blank look, not missing how Roronoa’s attention immediately snapped to Luffy. _He’s hopeless,_ he thought. _He’s really hopeless._

A quiet clatter caught all three’s attention. A ladder was propped up against the wall, and a small girl was climbing it. They watched in confusion as she climbed to the top of the wall, looked around, and hopped into the courtyard the wall surrounded.

“Hey! What are you doing? It’s dangerous!” Coby called.

Roronoa eyed the little girl. “What are you up to, kid?”

“Luffy, stop her,” Coby hissed, eyes never leaving the little girl. “She’s going to get killed.”

“You do it,” Luffy said back, watching what the little girl was doing.

“Do you want something?” Roronoa asked the little girl. “Get lost.”

The little girl stopped in front of Roronoa. Coby watched in worried silence as she held up something in her hands. “Big brother? You’ve been here for a while so I thought you would be hungry,” she said. “I made you some rice balls.”

There was a moment of silence.

“What.” Roronoa said.

“It’s my first time making rice balls and –”

“Get lost kid,” Roronoa growled, “I’m not hungry.”

“But…” the little girl said, her voice trembling just a little bit.

“I said I’m not hungry,” he repeated. “Get lost or I’ll kill you.”

“Roronoa Zoro. You really shouldn’t pick on little kids,” someone’s voice sleazed. “I’ll have to tell my father about what you’ve done.”

Luffy and Coby looked over toward the gate. A blond with an odd haircut slinked in through the gate, followed by a small contingency of Marines.

 _Oh good,_ Coby thought _, maybe he’s someone important in the Marines. The little girl will be safe._

“Some weird guy came,” Luffy said.

“He’s probably important,” Coby countered.

Roronoa snorted. “If it isn’t the Captain’s bastard son,” he said, his nose crinkling.

“Bastard? Don’t be ridiculous,” the guy sniffed. “My father’s a Marine Captain.”

Coby nudged Luffy. “See?” he said.

“Hey there little girl,” he said. “Those rice balls sure do look tasty.” He picked up one of the rice balls.

“Hey! Give that back!” the girl yelled. “That’s not for you!”

The blond took a bite of the rice ball and immediately made a disgusted face. “The hell?! There’s too much sugar! They’re supposed to have salt!”

The little girl looked like she was going to cry. “I thought they would taste better if they were sweet…”

The blond threw the rice ball to the ground and knocked the one still in the girl’s hand down. He proceeded to stomp on them. “How could anyone eat these!” he cried.

“No! Stop! He can’t eat them anymore!” The little girl started crying, tears rolling down her cheeks.

“That’s just cruel,” Coby murmured in shock. “She worked hard on those.”

The blond ground the rice balls into the dirt. “Don’t worry about that,” he laughed. “The ants will eat it all!”

The little girl was silently crying, tears streaming down her face. “That’s so mean…” She hiccupped. “I worked so hard on them.”

“Man, don’t cry.” The blond scowled. “This is why I hate little kids.” He sighed loudly. “It’s really all your fault. See this sign?” He pointed at a wooden sign with script on it. “It says, ‘Anyone who assists a criminal will be charged with the same crime. Marine Captain Morgan.’” He tapped the sign with a knuckle. “You know how scary he is right? If you were a grown up, you could get the death penalty,” he threatened. “Throw her out.”

The closest marine looked at the blond in shock. “Huh?”

“I’m telling you to throw her out!” the blond shouted. “Are you disobeying me? I’ll be telling my dad!”

“Of – of course, Sir,” the marine responded.

Coby and Luffy dropped to base of the wall before they heard a little yell. Luffy caught the girl and they landed in the dust. Setting her down, Luffy moved back to the wall and glowered at it.

Coby quickly rushed to the girl’s side. “Are you okay? You’re not hurt, are you?” he asked, helping her sit up. “Those bastards!”

From over the wall, they could just hear a conversation.

“You’re much more resilient than I thought you were.” There was a huff of amusement. “You stay alive for a whole month.”

“You better keep your promise.”

There was laughter. “Oh, I’ll keep my promise. Mark my words, if you stay alive for a whole month, I’ll let you go.”

While Coby helped the girl to her feet, Luffy disappeared. He heard Roronoa say, “You still haven’t left yet?” and figured that Luffy probably had things well in hand.

“Do you want me to walk you home?” he asked the little girl. She nodded, and he took her hand. “What’s your name?”

“Rika,” she said. Coby walked her home. She lived fairly close to the Marine Base, and they were there a couple of moments later. “I’m going to get Luffy. You’ll be okay, right?” She nodded.

Coby ran back to the base to find Luffy walking out the gate. “Luffy! What happened?” Coby asked, walking up to him.

“Tell you in a bit. Where’s the little girl?” Luffy cocked his head to the side and looked at Coby.

“I took her home. Come on.” Coby waved to Luffy and started running back in the direction of the house.

Once back at the house, Luffy told Coby and Rika what happened.

“Really?” she asked. She grinned and laughed a bit.

“Yep. He ate all of it,” Luffy replied.

“I’m so happy!” she chirped.

“So he’s not as bad of a person as rumors say he is,” Coby said.

“Big brother didn’t do anything wrong,” Rika said. “The townspeople scared of him.” She frowned. “It’s my fault. He got arrested ‘cause he killed Helmeppo’s wolf.” Rika crossed her arms and stood her ground. “Helmeppo let his wolf run around town and scare people.”

Coby frowned. “Helmeppo was the blond with the…” He made a motion around his head. “Uh… haircut?”

Rika nodded emphatically.

“So you’re saying that Zoro got arrested ‘cause he killed Helmeppo’s wolf?” Luffy said. Rika nodded again.

“You’re right! So maybe he has a bad temper, but hunting fugitives isn’t against the law,” Coby stated.

“The only bad guys are the Morgans,” Rika said angrily. “People get executed if they disobey them, so everyone’s afraid.”

There was a clattering as people suddenly dropped to their knees. Coby and Luffy watched in confusion.

They heard Helmeppo’s laughter. “Who dares raise his head? I’ll tell my father.” The two locked eyes for a brief second before alighting on Helmeppo’s form. The blond was strutting down the street in front of two haggard looking Marines. “Do you want to end up like Roronoa Zoro? I’m going to make an example of him. I’m going to have him executed in three days!”

“Three days?” Luffy repeated. “Didn’t you say you would give him a month?” Luffy had a curiously serious look on his face, and Coby narrowed his eyes at Luffy.

 _What are you doing now?_ he thought.

“How rude!” Helmeppo snorted. “I was only joking. Only an idiot would believe that.”

Thinking back, Coby would have realized he probably saw what Luffy did next coming. At the time, Coby had no idea that Luffy would snag Helmeppo by the collar and punch him in the face.

Coby’s first reaction was to spring forward and grab Luffy, pulling him away from Helmeppo. “Don’t! Luffy stop!”

“You bastard,” Luffy growled.

“Please calm down,” Coby pleaded, dragging Luffy backward. “Do you want to get in trouble with the Marines?”

“I’ve decided,” Luffy stated. Confused, Coby hung off Luffy and looked at him. “I’m going to ask Zoro to join me.”

“What?” Coby screeched.

The townsfolk broke out into terrified muttering. They didn’t know who Luffy was, nor why he would flat out punch Helmeppo.

“Luffy, calm down! They’re _Marines!_ ” Coby repeated, bracing himself and holding on to Luffy as hard as he could.

“I don’t care!” Luffy shot back. “A bastard is still a bastard!”

Helmeppo was looking at Luffy in shock. “You hit me. You _hit_ me. Not even my father hits me.”

He yelled suddenly. “I’m Captain Morgan’s son! I’ll tell him about this!”

“Why don’t you fight me yourself!” Luffy yelled back.

Coby tightened his grip on Luffy. “Don’t do it! It’s a terrible life choice.”

The two Marines helped Helmeppo up. “You’ll regret hitting me! You’ll get a death sentence for it!”

Luffy stopped fighting Coby’s grip and turned slightly to face Coby. “It’s no use hitting people like him,” he said.

Coby glanced over to see Helmeppo leaving. “He ran away…”

Rika came running over to Luffy and Coby. “Big brother, you were so cool!” she said. “Just when everyone was scared.” She beamed.

“Ri-Rika!” a woman yelled, running towards the trio.

“Mama!” Rika yelled back, running over to her.

“Don’t talk to strangers! You could be executed if you were mistaken for one of their friends,” Rika’s mother scolded.

“But they’re good people!” Rika protested. “Just like Zoro.”

“Don’t be silly. Come inside.” Rika’s mother ushered her inside and Rika looked behind her at Luffy and Coby and waved.

Luffy waved back and said bye. Coby held up a hand in a half wave. When she’d gone in, Coby turned to Luffy and made a distressed sound. “If that Captain gets mad and sends the marines after us, we could get into so much trouble,” he said.

“We’ll deal with it when it happens,” Luffy said. “I’m gonna go talk to Zoro.” Luffy started walking away. Coby watched him walk for a moment before hurrying to catch up.

A moment later, the two reached the gate for the Marine compound. Luffy walked in, right up to where Roronoa was still tied up.

Coby hung back and watched, unsure of what was going to happen.

“You again?” Roronoa growled. “I said I didn’t want to be a pirate.”

Luffy stood still for a moment. “I’m Luffy. I help you out, you join me,” he said.

“I told you already. Besides,” he started. “I’ve got things to do. I’m not going to be a bad guy like a pirate.”

Coby flicked his eyes over to Luffy, wondering how he would respond.

“That’s the difference?” Luffy said. “Everyone already thinks you’re a bad guy anyway.”

“Screw what they think,” Roronoa snapped. “I haven’t done anything I regret and I won’t do anything I regret in the future.” He sneered, and from the distance, Coby could just see Roronoa baring his teeth.

 _Oh god,_ Coby thought, _they’re both stubborn idiots_. Coby sighed heavily and ignored them for a few minutes, running his hand down his face and thinking just how much less trouble he would have if he just hadn’t gotten on that boat two years before. “Coby you’re such an idiot,” he muttered, sighing again.

Luffy ran past. Coby stared for a minute wondering why he was suddenly running.

“…Luffy?” Coby said, though it was more of an afterthought than an actual attempt at stopping Luffy from doing what he wanted to. Coby paced for a few minutes, deliberating over the idea of finding Luffy and trying to stop him or just letting him cause chaos.

Just then, Coby heard an excited, “Yahoo!” that could have only been Luffy.

“He didn’t…” Coby turned around in time to see an explosion at the top of the Marine Base. “God…. Damn it Luffy.” Coby sighed again and stepped inside the gate, looking around.

Roronoa was still tied up in the middle of the compound. “You’re not with that kid with the straw hat, are you?” Roronoa asked, lifting his head to look at Coby.

Coby shrugged. “What even happened with him, anyway?”

Roronoa grimaced and sighed. “Long story short, he wants me on my crew.”

Coby looked at Roronoa blankly. “Stubborn… idiot,” he muttered.

Roronoa snorted. “Understatement. He’s in the base looking for my katanas.”

Coby stared blankly for a second. “He’s in the base. Oh my god that idiot.”

“You’re right about that,” Roronoa replied. “Who is he, anyway?” Coby moved over to Roronoa and started messing with the ropes. “What are you doing? You’ll get killed if you help me!”

Coby frowned. “You shouldn’t have been arrested,” he said. “I _hate_ those kinds of Marines.” Coby gritted his teeth while pulling on the ropes. “That’s why I’m going to be a real Marine! Just like Luffy’s determined to be Pirate King!”

“You’re joking, right?” Roronoa sputtered. “Pirate King? He can’t be serious.”

“Serious as a heart attack,” Coby replied. “I mean, I didn’t think he was serious at first either, but…” Coby shrugged. “He’s entirely serious.”

Neither of them saw the bullet that slammed into Coby coming, forcing Coby backwards into the dirt. Coby yelped in pain and shock, and Roronoa jerked his head around to where the shot came from as best he could.

“I – I, wha, I’ve been shot!” Coby stammered from his spot on the ground. “I’m probably gonna die!” The bullet had felt like Alvida had hit him with her mace and concentrated the spikes all in one spot.

Roronoa looked back at Coby. “You alright?” he said. “You should run.” He looked over his shoulder again. “They’re almost here.”

Coby huffed in stunned shock. “N-no.” He pushed himself up. “I’ve got to get you untied as fast as possible.” He ignored the blood staining his shirt.

Roronoa – Zoro snorted. “I’ll be fine. If I last a month that bastard said he’d let me go.”

Coby locked eyes with Zoro. “He lied. They’re going to execute you in three days,” he said.

“Three – that bastard said a month!”

“He never intended to let you go! Luffy punched him because you’re tied up!” Coby breathed hard, willing Zoro to listen.

“What… what did you say?” Zoro asked, suddenly looking young and open.

“The Navy will never let you go. Please, you have to help Luffy,” Coby requested. “I won’t make you become a pirate, but please. Luffy saved my life.” Coby decided he didn’t care if he sounded desperate. “You’re both really strong. If you teamed up, you could get out of town easy!”

“That’s enough!” Coby and Zoro whipped their heads in the direction of the voice to see a small group of marines staring at them while holding rifles. “Betrayers of Captain Morgan will not be tolerated!”

 _This is it,_ Coby thought. _This is the moment I’m probably going to die. Again._ “I’m done with almost dying,” he said softly, his voice trembling and tears rolling down his face. His eyes traced over the Marines and froze on who could only be Captain Morgan.

“Surround the base!” the man yelled. “Don’t let the kid with the straw hat escape!” A group of Marines in the back saluted and ran off, presumably to follow orders. “So. You boys are starting a political revolution, huh?” he said, walking forward. “Roronoa Zoro… I’ve heard of you. But you’re nothing,” he spat.

Coby froze; like a small creature in front of a wolf with nowhere to go, he eyed Morgan with suspicion. The man was very tall, with incredibly broad shoulders, and in place of his right hand, he had an axe head. Coby gulped silently.

“Get rid of them,” Morgan said. “Ready…”

Coby steeled himself.

“Fire!!” Morgan yelled.

Luffy appeared in front of them, right as the bullets were about to reach them.

“Luffy!” Coby yelled.

Luffy was half curled in on himself, but long pieces of flesh were stretching out behind him. With a gleeful shout, Luffy stood straight again, yelling, “That’s useless!” and laughing. Bullets flew in every direction but towards Coby and Zoro.

Marines dropped and dove any which way in an attempt to avoid getting hit by the wayward ammunition, most of them too stunned to do much more.

“What the hell?” Zoro breathed. Coby was on his back, laughing semi-hysterically. “What the hell are you?” Zoro demanded.

Luffy looked back at him. “I’m the man who will be Pirate King.” He turned around fully and held out three katanas. “There were three of them and I didn’t know which one was yours so I grabbed all of them.”

“They’re all mine,” Zoro replied. “I use three swords.”

“If you fight with me you’ll make the Marines your enemy,” Luffy said seriously. “Or do you want to die here?”

“Are you the son of the devil?” Zoro shook his head. “Rather than die, I’ll accede… and become a pirate!”

“Yes!” Luffy yelled. “I have someone for my crew!”

Coby continued to lie on the ground, but he said quietly, “All of you are insane.”

Luffy laughed a little when he heard Coby. “C’mon,” he said, “let’s get you out of these ropes.” He tugged on Zoro’s ropes a bit, getting one side untied, but was distracted by the marines suddenly yelling.

Coby pushed himself up when the marines started yelling, and blinked at a lot of them running at them with swords. “Guys!” he yelped.

“Gimme my swords!” Zoro said to Luffy.

There was a clatter, the sound of metal hitting metal. Coby opened his eyes to see Zoro holding three swords and a dozen marine grunts back all at once.

“Oh my god,” he whispered.

“Cooooool,” Luffy breathed.

“If any of you move,” Zoro growled, “I’ll kill you.” The marines looked thoroughly terrified. “I’ve agreed to be a pirate with you,” he said to Luffy. “But I have my own goals too. I’m going to be the world’s greatest swordsman!” Zoro declared. “If you stand in my way, I’ll have to kill you too.”

Luffy just grinned. “Good! If you’re gonna be the crewmate of the Pirate King, if you didn’t do that, I’d be embarrassed!”

“What are you doing?!” Morgan yelled. “Get them!”

“Not again,” Coby said.

“Zoro, duck!” Luffy yelled, picking up one leg and stretching it behind him. “ _Gomu-gomu no_ …” Zoro got the gist and ducked, right as Luffy yelled, “ _Leg sweeper_!” and swiped his leg across the group of marines.

“That was amazing,” Coby said.

“The hell kind of person are you?” Zoro asked.

“I am,” Luffy began, “a rubber man.” He grinned.

The marines began to murmur their dissent. “We can’t beat them… one of ’em’s made of rubber… too strong.”

“Whoever just said that,” Morgan stated, “Take your gun and kill yourself. That’s an order.”

The marines stared in shock, and a few actually picked up their guns.

“The hell do these dumb marines think they’re doing?” Zoro muttered, running towards them.

Luffy ran faster and reached Morgan, kicking him in the flat of the axe on his arm. “If you’ve got guts then execute me!”

Coby bit his lip but overcame his reservations. “Luffy! Beat these marines!”

The marines lowered their guns – some in shock, some in relief, but all in silence.

“People like you have no right to stand up to me!” Morgan stated. He leapt toward Luffy.

“My name’s Luffy. Nice to meet you.” Luffy jumped to avoid the axe, which then proceeded to split a chain fence and a dividing wall in half.

The fight was very one-sided – Luffy was dodging all of Morgan’s attacks and Morgan was being kicked around.

A minute later Morgan ended up on the ground on his back. “Some great marine you are,” Luffy said disdainfully. “Ruining Coby’s dreams and goal.” He pulled his arm back.

“WAIT!!!” Helmeppo yelled. Everyone spared him a glance but quickly looked back at Luffy, who proceeded to punch Morgan in the jaw, breaking it. “I said wait!” Everyone finally looked at Helmeppo. “If you want him to survive, don’t move! I’ll shoot, I swear.”

Coby frowned and looked over to Helmeppo. His stance was terrible, his knees were shaking, and he was sweating bullets.

“Luffy,” Coby began, “I don’t want to be in your way, but…” He took a breath. “I’m not afraid to die!”

Luffy grinned. “I know,” he replied, winding up his arm to punch Helmeppo. “Hey, you stupid idiot! Coby’s not afraid to die!”

“I said don’t move!” Helmeppo’s voice had an edge of hysteria to it.

“Go ahead and shoot!” Coby snapped before noticing something behind Luffy. “Luffy! Behind you!”

In a split second, Luffy had punched Helmeppo and Zoro had stopped Morgan’s axe hand before throwing the man back.

“Leave it to me, _Captain_!” Zoro said.

There were murmurs amongst the marines once more, with people saying, “Captain Morgan lost?” and “God damn these kids.”

Zoro looked at them and said, “If you really want to arrest us, you’re welcome to try.”

The Marines fell silent before a raucous cheer went up.

Luffy looked confused. “They’re cheering.”

“Everyone… hated Morgan?” Coby queried with a sparkle in his eyes.

Zoro chose this moment to collapse. Luffy and Coby both yelled his name and ran towards him. Zoro was lying on his side and his stomach growled loudly. The boys shared a look and picked up an arm each, throwing Zoro over their shoulders.

“Food?” Coby asked.

“Food!” Luffy agreed.

Together, they dragged Zoro to Rika’s house where Coby knocked on the door.

Rika answered and made them come in, yelling for her mother. “Mama! They saved big brother!”

Rika’s mother made the three come inside, where she sat Luffy and Coby at the table and made Zoro sit on a barrel so she could make him clean his face.

“I’ll feed you boys in a bit,” she said. “I don’t want blood everywhere.”

Zoro put up with it, letting her scrub at his face with a washrag. When he was satisfactorily clean, she sat him at the table with the others.

“Rika,” she said. “Mama’s going to need plenty of food for the boys.” Rika nodded and scurried to their pantry. “It’ll be a few minutes, so just hang in tight.” A pan clattered as she pulled it from a cabinet.

Pretty soon, the smell of food drifted through the air and not long after that, the boys were heartily digging into the food Rika’s mother was providing.

A while later, Coby and Zoro had eaten their fill, though Luffy was still eating.

“Man, I was hungry,” Zoro said, setting his fork down and sighing deeply. “Nine days without food… I almost starved to death.”

Luffy swallowed the mouthful he had. “There’s no way you would have lasted a month.”

Zoro looked at Luffy with something akin to horror and pride on his face. “How are you eating more than me? You’re so skinny.” Luffy just laughed and ate more.

“Sorry,” Coby said, turning to Rika’s mom. “I ate a lot too.”

Rika’s mom just waved the spatula in her hand and said, “Don’t worry about it. Keep eating. You boys saved our town.” She smiled at them. “Feeding you is the least I can do, especially after you rescued my daughter.”

Rika moved around the table to Luffy. “Big brother, you’re really strong!” she said.

“Yep,” Luffy chirped.  “And I’ll only get stronger.”

Zoro looked over at Luffy and said, “That’s right. What’re your plans now?”

“I’m going to the Grand Line,” Luffy declared.

“Seriously? Just the two of you?” Coby exclaimed. “That’s insane! The world’s strongest pirates all gather there. There are only two of you!”

Zoro shrugged. “If we’re going after the One Piece, that’s not a bad place to go.”

Coby sounded offended. “You too, Zoro? You too?”

Zoro looked confused. “Why are you worried?” he asked. “S’not like you’re coming with us.”

“I might not be going with you, but I’m still going to worry!” Coby said. “You guys are my first friends. Even though we just met… we’re friends.”

Luffy grinned. “Yep. Even though we’ll be apart, we’re still friends.”

Coby smiled a little. “No one really stood up for me, or even liked me all that much. But you two! You taught me to live by my dreams.”

Luffy laughed a bit. “Yep. That’s why we’re going to the Grand Line.”

“I guess that makes sense – wait! That’s not what I meant at all,” Coby said.

Zoro tapped the hilt of one sword to Coby’s forehead. “You should worry about yourself,” he said. “You spent time as a pirate, yeah? If they’re any good at getting information, the marines will find that out and you could have trouble.”

Coby paled. “I didn’t think of that,” he replied softly.

There was a knocking at the door before it opened and a Marine walked in. He nodded towards Rika’s mother.

“Excuse me.” He stepped close to the three at the table but stopped a distance away. “We were wondering… are you actually pirates?”

Luffy nodded. “Yeah. I actually just got my first crew member, so I guess that makes us pirates now.”

The marine hummed. “Well. Even though you boys are pirates, you saved our town and base. The town is grateful.” He adjusted his cap. “But you _are_ pirates, and as such we cannot allow you to stay.” The marine sighed, placing his hands behind his back. “Please leave immediately. As for what occurred, we will be reporting it to Headquarters.”

The crowd outside Rika’s home was outraged. There was quite a bit of shouting, and one person threw a banana that bounced off the doorframe.

Luffy nodded, and then stood from his seat. Humming, he responded, “Well then… Let’s go! Thank you for the food ma’am.”

Coby quietly said Luffy’s name just as Rika was asking them if they were really going to leave. He stood still as Luffy and Zoro walked past.

“Aren’t you with them?” the marine asked Coby.

Startled, Coby looked at him. “I… I…!” he stuttered. “I’m not… I’m not with them!” Coby gritted his teeth.

“Please wait a moment,” the marine said to Luffy. “Is he telling the truth?”

There was a moment of silence before Luffy spoke. “I know what this kid used to do…”

“Lu…ffy?” _What is he doing?_

“I can’t remember where exactly,” Luffy continued, puffing up his chest. “But he used to be with this faaat female pirate.” Luffy cocked his head and stuck out his tongue as if he was thinking. “I think her name was Alvida?”

“Luffy, stop,” Coby murmured, worried. _Luffy you idiot! You know as well as I do that if they know I was on a pirate ship, I’ll never be allowed to be a Marine!_ “Luffy please shut up.”

The marine silently watched them.

Luffy stepped close to Coby and poked his head, right above his glasses. “Yeah. It was a fat and ugly lady pirate.” Luffy’s grin was positively shit eating. “This guy spent two years there.”

 _Luffy!_ “Shut up!” Coby shouted, punching Luffy.

Everyone stared in shock for a moment. Even Coby seemed surprised that he’d punched Luffy.

Luffy grinned, then punched Coby back. “You! You should get a beating!” he yelled, throwing a few more punches.

The marine intervened, snagging Luffy by the collar. “Enough! I’ll have no more fights in this town.” He tugged on Luffy’s collar. “You went overboard.”

Coby was flat on his back, staring dazedly at the ceiling.

The marine pointed at Luffy. “I know he isn’t your friend. Please leave this town immediately,” he stated loudly.

Luffy and Zoro left the house.

 _He did it for me_ , Coby thought _. He wanted me to get mad… **wanted** me to hit him…. Even in the end, I still needed their help. _ Coby took a deep breath and quickly stood. _I’m such an **idiot**. If I don’t do something now, everything will have been wasted._

Standing in front of the marine, Coby begged, “Please let me join the Marines! Even if it’s just chores, I’ll do them.”

_I did it. It’s out of my hands._

A marine spoke up. “Sir! I’m against it. There have been instances in the past where pirates have joined the Marines to be spies. We have to check his background.”

Coby stared in horror for a moment before responding, “I am a man whose dream is to become a member of the Marines!”

There was silence as Coby bravely stared down the marine.

The marine nodded. Walking past Coby to the rest of the regiment, he said quietly, “Don’t think we don’t know about your past on Iron Mace Alvida’s ship. You’ll underestimate us that way.” He readjusted his hat. “But, I’ll still allow you to join.”

“Yes sir!” Coby replied. “Thank you, Sir!” He quickly saluted the marine.

As the rest of the Marines were heading off towards the base, Coby sprinted in the other direction, towards the docks.

“Luffy!” he yelled. “Thank you! Thank you so much. I’ll never forget you, ever!” Coby saluted.

Luffy grinned and laughed, waving back. “Coby! We’ll meet again!”

“Group salute!”

The sound of the base’s Marines all saluting at once stunned Coby. Zoro shook his head and got on the little boat, as did Luffy, though Luffy continued facing the marines and waving until he was no longer in sight.

“You have good friends,” the marine said to Coby.

“Yes Sir,” Coby replied, not even attempting to hold back the tears that were rolling down his cheeks.

The marine nodded, then turned around and clicked his heels. “We just saluted pirates, men, and by doing so, we violated Naval code. As such, the punishment will be no dinner for a week.”

The regiment saluted and responded as one, “Yes, Sir!”

Coby saluted as well, proud to have finally been accepted.

The group moved back to the base, where the commander made everyone get back to work. Coby hung back, unsure of what to do until he felt a hand on his shoulder.

“Come on lad,” the commander said. “Let’s make you a marine.”


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In which Coby Joins the Marines and becomes Friends with Helmeppo

Getting set up to actually officially join the Navy was easier than Coby had expected. Paperwork only consisted of a dozen or so pages written in the cleanest, most legal Parlance Coby had ever seen. Granted, Coby hadn’t seen many legal documents, but he knew how to read them. After going through the papers and having the commander – whose name Coby found out to be Ripper – clarify a couple of points, Coby signed on the dotted line. He knew before he even read the paperwork that he was going to sign. The paperwork itself was just a formality, a facsimile of following the code.

 _Plus_ , Coby had thought, _it’s always good to know what exactly I’m getting into._

Ripper took Coby on a quick tour of the base and left him in the quartermaster’s capable hands. The quartermaster took one look at Coby and proceeded to start tutting, grumbling over Coby’s small stature. Within moments Coby was set up with a few uniforms and the quartermaster was stitching some text onto the sleeves and back.

Coby proceeded to ask what it was since he wasn’t exactly sure what the text meant in the given context.

“Oh this? Means you’re the odd jobs kid – you’ll be doin’ chores, runnin’ paperwork.” The quartermaster shrugged, finishing one sleeve with a neat stitch. “Head out, kid, I’ve got to do another set of these.”

The quartermaster waved Coby off, and Coby left the room far more confused than when he’d entered.

 _Another set?_ he wondered, walking to where he remembered the quarters to be. He found the barracks easily enough, and found a blanket he could use. He set the uniforms the quartermaster had given him on the blanket and changed into one of them.

There was a mirror on a small patch of wall and Coby looked in it. It was the first chance he’d really gotten to see himself since he could see in color.

He looked different, he supposed. Knowing half of what made him look different in his own eyes was meeting Luffy and seeing in color didn’t help. The fact that his hair was pink was a bit distracting, all in all, but he could ignore it. The uniform was different, but not in a bad way. He looked different in a good way. The change was a good one, and Coby nodded to himself in the mirror, a determined look crossing his face.

“You’re in the Navy now, Coby,” he told himself. “You can do this.” Coby nodded and breathed deeply.

Balling up his clothes, Coby put them on the blanket he’d picked out of the linen box he’d found. Once he’d finished that, he left the barracks to find out what exactly he was supposed to do.

Like the quartermaster had told him, Coby ended up doing quite a lot of chores. Sweeping, mopping, and laundry were what he ended up doing a lot of the time.

The surprising part was _who_ Coby ended up doing the chores with. Somehow, Commander Ripper had conscripted Helmeppo and made him an odd jobs recruit as well. The first time Coby saw Helmeppo, he blinked in shock and confusion, but the feeling passed.

Coby nodded at Helmeppo and held out his hand. “Coby,” he said, smiling.

Helmeppo looked at Coby’s hand and sneered, walking past Coby’s outstretched hand.

Coby blinked at him and let his hand fall.  “O-okay then.” Coby’s grin faded and he started mopping.

This encounter framed their interactions over the following weeks. Coby would greet Helmeppo and Helmeppo would ignore him, and the two would do various chores during the day. At night, when most of the Marines were sleeping, Coby would stay awake reading, learning everything he could about East Blue when he had the time.

When Coby had a spare moment for lunch, he went to Rika’s mother’s restaurant. Rika’s mother was only too happy to feed Coby, because, as she told him, he was “Y&oung, did a lot of work, and would always need feeding.” Coby thanked her profusely each time.

Rika was ecstatic to see Coby, and she chatted his ear off whenever he visited. More than once Rika would bring lunch to him and Coby would manage to convince Helmeppo to join them for it. Helmeppo would reluctantly join them.

For several weeks, this was enough.

Then the order regarding Helmeppo’s father getting transferred came in. The base set up a ship and most were temporarily transferred to it, including Coby and Helmeppo. As Morgan was being led onto the prisoner’s ship, the boys were at the end of the line of marines, trying not to panic. They stood in the line and waited until Morgan was in the brig of the prison ship.

Once everyone was dismissed, Coby followed Helmeppo to the storage room. Coby poked his head through the door. Helmeppo was seated on a box next to a cannon with a pile of cannonballs in front of him. “Hey. You okay?”

Helmeppo was silent for a while. He finally spoke up when Coby was getting uncomfortable. “Do you think he’s gonna get the death penalty?” Helmeppo asked quietly.

“I don’t know,” Coby replied seriously. He sat on a box, and pulled out a sword and a couple of cleaning rags. He tossed one to Helmeppo who caught it and started polishing one of the cannonballs in front of him.

“I just…” Helmeppo froze, nervously fidgeting with the cannonball. “I don’t want him to die.”

Coby looked at Helmeppo. The other recruit looked devastated, and Coby didn’t know what to say.

“I’m sorry,” Coby finally said.

The storage hold was awkwardly silent after that. Coby didn’t know how to respond and Helmeppo was thinking worriedly about what was going to happen.

The next day was when the transfer was happening. Neither Coby nor Helmeppo got much sleep that night, Helmeppo busy worrying about what was going to happen and Coby busy worrying about what Morgan might do.

Morning dawned, and the ship was silent but for the leftovers of the skeleton night crew and early morning seagulls flapping about the ship’s mast. Coby pushed himself out of his bed in the grey morning light when he couldn’t stand laying there any longer.

Noticing Helmeppo was still awake, Coby said, “Hey,” and shoved at him to get up too. “We’re not getting any sleep, might as well help the ship get ready for transfer,” Coby whispered so he wouldn’t bother the other sleeping marines.

Helmeppo looked back and sat up, running his hands through his hair. To Coby, the other recruit didn’t look like he’d slept either.

“Wanna see if there were any apples packed?” Coby asked. Helmeppo nodded, and the two silently made their way to the kitchen. “Helmeppo, catch.” Coby tossed an apple at Helmeppo, who only fumbled for a second before fully catching the apple.

“Thanks,” he mumbled, holding the fruit for a moment. He took a bite and Coby saw him instantly relax.

“Better?” Helmeppo nodded and Coby grinned, grabbing an apple from the barrel for himself. The two crunched their apples for a while in companionable silence, but soon there were people moving in and out of the kitchen, grabbing quick breakfasts on their way to finish getting the ship ready for the impending arrival of one of Marine Headquarters’ Vice Admirals. The recruits finished their apples quickly after that and went to the deck of the ship where they were tasked with helping move everything around so that it was properly out of the way when the Vice Admiral arrived.

Helmeppo was the first to spot the official seagull. He dropped his end of some big heavy object he and Coby were carrying and Coby nearly dropped it on himself. “It’s the ship!” Helmeppo called, pointing at a rather large ship sailing out of the morning mist.

Coby yelped, finally falling down but preventing the large object from actually landing on him. "Oi." Helmeppo looked over to Coby and blinked. Coby pointed at the object wrapped in what looked and felt almost like heavy paper and shoved at it. “We need to move this?” he said, looking at Helmeppo pointedly.  
Helmeppo blinked and Coby watched as he flushed in realization. “Sorry,” he muttered, helping Coby up.

“It's okay,” Coby replied.

The two moved the object to its official resting spot before lining up with the rest of the Marines.

As the Vice Admiral's ship sailed up next to theirs, Coby got a decent look at it.

It was the traditional Navy coloration – green with blue accenting and the part of the ship that Coby could see just above the waterline was painted in what looked to be a green and blue mixture to mimic the water itself. That alone would have let Coby think of it as just another Marine ship, but this particular ship had a dog's head for a figurehead, and was much larger than the transfer ship he’d been on for the last day and a half.

Helmeppo picking up his end of the object again brought Coby back to what they were supposed to be doing. The boys quickly moved the object to its proper place and got into the lineup with the rest of the marines, the two's stances tense. Of the two, Helmeppo was by far the tenser, nearly vibrating in his agitation.

“You can handle this,” Coby whispered to Helmeppo, staring at the Vice Admiral’s ship. Helmeppo reluctantly nodded back and kept watching the ship.

The air was charged on the transport ship, strained enough that if Coby thought he could do it, the air could be cut like a hot knife through butter. Helmeppo was sweating bullets beside him, and while Coby was holding himself together better, he was as well. For a cohort of Marines as lively as the ones Coby had gotten used to, the silence they were occupying was deafening, the loudest sound being the splashing of the waves and the creak of their ship.

Coby watched the ship approach and a murmur rippled its way through the awaiting Marines. The murmur eventually made it to Coby and he caught snatches of an awed whisper. Much of the whisper seemed to be about the Vice Admiral they were to deliver Morgan to. _Vice Admiral Garp_ and _Garp the Fist_ reached his ears quickly when the whisper rippled in his direction.

Coby blinked. Vice Admiral Garp was from East Blue originally, from what he’d learned. He’d also learned, through a few late night readings, that the Vice Admiral was typically stationed at Marine Headquarters, and that Vice Admiral Garp, despite only being a Vice Admiral, was one of the strongest men the Navy had. Coby swallowed a little, nervously thinking about what that could mean.

Helmeppo knocked Coby’s upper arm with an elbow, and the two recruits shared a glance. “ _Think this will go well?_ ” Coby mouthed.

Helmeppo responded by subtly shaking his head.

Coby blew air out his noise in an attempt at sighing quietly. _Great._

If the uneasy air of the ship only intensified as the Vice Admiral’s ship pulled in close, it was nearly palpable when the two ships actually connected and the Vice Admiral himself walked across the planks to the transfer ship.

Ripper then proceeded to have a small conversation with the Vice Admiral as Morgan was brought up in chains. Morgan being brought up from below deck prompted a distressed noise from Helmeppo and Coby grabbed a hold of him to stop him from doing something rash.

“ _Quit it_ ,” Coby hissed, one arm across Helmeppo’s shoulders and the other hand fisted in his shirt.

“ _But he’s my dad_ ,” Helmeppo hissed back, a distraught tone to his voice.

The two stopped what they were doing when Morgan was in front of Vice Admiral Garp, observing the scene nervously. For a few moments, nothing happened.

Nothing happened, that is, until Morgan decided to slice the Vice Admiral open with his axe hand and use Helmeppo as a hostage.

“No one move, or the chore boy gets it,” Morgan growled, blade-edge of the axe held to a panicking Helmeppo’s throat.

Helmeppo was shaking and, if it were possible, sweating more bullets than before. “D-dad?” his voice cracked, almost as if he were going to cry.

Morgan backed up from the center of the ship to the side and dropped a lifeboat into the water, jumping down into it with his one hand still on Helmeppo’s collar and dragging him down as well. Morgan kicked the little boat away from the transfer ship.

Coby made a distressed noise, hurrying to the rail of the transfer ship. He could just see Helmeppo freaking out on the little boat, and Coby worriedly bit his lip. “Helmeppo!” he yelled, leaning over the rail as far as he could without actively falling off the ship.

That was the point when he heard someone say, “Ready the cannon.” Coby’s eyes went wide and he heard several bones pop as he jerked his head around to look behind him. One of the cannons was being readied, and the man who could only be Vice Admiral Garp’s second in command looked like he was the one who’d given the order.

 _I can’t let him do that_ , Coby thought. He looked between the cannon and the lifeboat for a split second before jumping up on the railing in front of the cannon, yelling, “Stop! You can’t! My friend is on that boat!” before he could even really think through what he was about to do.

There was stunned silence for a moment.

“Kid you need to move,” Vice Admiral Garp’s second said. “Or you’ll die.”

“Helmeppo is my _friend_ ,” Coby repeated more forcefully. The man had a hand on his sword’s hilt – whether it was a katana or something else more destructive, Coby couldn’t be sure, as he was staring the man dead in the eyes.

“You’re either really brave or really stupid, kid,” the man said, shifting slightly. He inclined his head slightly, and Coby nodded back.

But before Coby could turn around on the rail to swim to his friend’s aid, Vice Admiral Garp sat up and stretched, much to the surprised of nearly everyone on the ship. The Vice Admiral yawned, placing a hand on the back of his neck and tipping his head to either side presumably to pop the bones in his neck. He laughed loudly at the blank looks of the Marines. “I was just sleeping,” he explained. Everyone merely stared in disbelief.

Coby blinked at the Vice Admiral for a moment, more confused than he’d been since he’d met Luffy.

“Hey! Down here!” Coby heard Helmeppo yell from below.

Coby stood straighter for a second. “Helmeppo?” he said as he looked down to the water below.

“Hello? Anyone?” Helmeppo yelled again.

“Helmeppo!” Coby yelled back. “Hang on!” Coby looked to where Captain Ripper was standing. “Sir?” The captain looked over at Coby. “Helmeppo is right down there in the water, sir.”

Ripper watched Coby for a second and pointed at a marine, saying, “Grab a rope. Let’s get him out of the water.”  The marine saluted and hustled to get a long enough rope to send down the side of the transport ship to pull Helmeppo from the water. Coby helped where he could, but one of the older marines did most of the work.

Once Helmeppo was on the transport ship’s deck, Coby moved to beside him, asking, “Are you okay? What happened?” in quick succession.

“I’m cold and wet and I jumped off a boat,” Helmeppo replied in some measure of shock. He shook his head to rid it of most of the dripping seawater. Helmeppo tried to push Coby off, but Coby fretted over him anyway.

Vice Admiral Garp clearing his throat had Coby and Helmeppo in a panic and sent the other Marines into a lineup. They all saluted while Coby and Helmeppo dropped to the ground, apologizing profusely.

“We’re sorry, sir!” Coby said. He swallowed the knot of fear that had formed at the back of his throat.

“It won’t happen again, sir!” Helmeppo added, glancing at Coby in terror.

There was a tense moment of silence as Vice Admiral Garp regarded the two young men before him. The ship was deathly silent as the Vice Admiral paced in front of them.

Then he grinned. “I’ll take them with me!” he said, laughing loudly. Even his second seemed slightly stunned by the Vice Admiral’s decision.

“Sir…?” he ventured uneasily.

Vice Admiral Garp continued laughing as he elaborated. “This one,” he gestured to Coby, “had the gall to get between you and his friend and try to stare _you_ down, Bogart.” The Vice Admiral jerked his thumb in Helmeppo’s direction. “This one got his way out of a hostage situation.” Then he grinned. “I like their guts.”

The recently dubbed Bogart just sighed and shook his head. “Of course, sir,” he replied. “Captain?” Ripper looked over to him and saluted. “I believe we’ll be taking your _garkek_ ,” he said.

Coby frowned at the wording the man had used. It didn’t sound like any of the East Blue languages he knew, but he would be the first to admit he wasn’t familiar with more than a few of the more southern languages, given that was where he had spent much of the previous two years.

While Coby quickly pondered this, Ripper had nodded and saluted again. “Boys,” the older marine started, “You’re heading to Headquarters with the Vice Admiral.” Coby and Helmeppo looked at him with mirrored distressed looks. “You’ll be fine. Do us proud.”

They pushed to their feet and saluted, holding back any dissent or questions, though Coby knew he had a few on the tip of his tongue. _Why us?_ being the main question he really wanted to know.

Ripper nodded at the boys and saluted Vice Admiral Garp and Bogart. “They’re hard workers, sirs,” he said. “You’ll do well by them.”

Coby thought that Vice Admiral Garp’s grin wasn’t exactly the most reassuring thing in the world.

 _We could actually **die** ,_ he thought, glancing over to Helmeppo just to see that the other recruit had come to the same conclusion. _We could have actually died._

Vice Admiral Garp merely continued to grin as he saluted the Marines of the transfer ship and walked back to his own vessel. Bogart snorted once before addressing Coby and Helmeppo. “You’re with us now. Good luck,” he said. “You’ll need it.” He too walked over to the ship with the dog’s head figurehead.

Coby and Helmeppo shared a quick look before turning and saluting Ripper. He nodded back before waving them off. The two boys hurried over to the much larger ship. Stepping onto the ship, Coby paused in awe.

“Whoa,” he whispered, glancing around the ship. He’d been able to tell that the Vice Admiral’s ship dwarfed the transfer ship easily, but being on the ship itself lent Coby a different perspective altogether.

“Whoa’s right,” Helmeppo whispered back, glancing around at everything.

Someone cleared their throat, and Coby and Helmeppo snapped to attention, turning to see Bogart just to their side. “Garp wants me to take the two of you to the medic on ship to get you checked out.” He sounded bored to Coby, and maybe a little bit annoyed. He turned and walked across the deck to the doorway to below deck, where presumably the infirmary was. Coby and Helmeppo quickly followed him, curious.

Below deck was busier than topside. Bogart weaved them through the ship to the infirmary, where he stopped and knocked.

“Come in, it’s not like I don’t have other work to do today!” the occupant yelled. Their voice was just muffled enough that Coby couldn’t tell whether the person was male or female, but he figured he’d find out in a moment.

Bogart opened the door and stepped in saying, “Doctor Ren. New recruits.”

A woman with short red hair popped her head out from behind a curtain. “Fresh meat?” she asked, eyeing Coby and Helmeppo. She stepped out from behind the curtain fully, and Coby could see how tiny she was. “Sir?” she said, flicking her eyes from the recruits to Bogart. “I can take them from here. I’ll have Captain Lukin return them to your capable hands when I’m finished.”

Bogart nodded and left the infirmary. The doctor sighed when the door clicked shut.

“Alright boys. I’m going to make this as quick and painless as possible.” She turned around and went to the desk at the back of the room and started shuffling through papers. “Since this is a physical I’ll need you boys to strip down to your skivvies, please.”

Coby blinked. “Um… what?”

The doctor looked up from her desk and scowled. “Recruit, when the medical professional on the ship gives you an order, you _follow it_ ,” she said. “Understood?”

Coby snapped into a salute. “Yes, ma’am,” he said dazedly. Dimly, he was aware that Helmeppo had done the same.

The doctor stared at them for a moment before shaking her head. “Oh you boys are so _green_ ,” she muttered. Running a hand down her face, she said, “Just strip so you can get out of my office and do the job you’ll be doing for however long it takes.”

Coby shared a look with Helmeppo and the two stripped down to their boxers as Doctor Ren pulled out a drawer and exclaimed, “Oh! So that’s where I put those,” and blew on a few dusty sheets of paper.

Shaking off the paper and grabbing a clipboard, the doctor twirled a pen between her fingers.

“Alright boys, which one of you wants to go first?” she asked, her pen abruptly stopping in its motion.

Coby stepped forward nervously. “I’ll go,” he said.

“Taking initiative. Not always a good idea, but you’ll learn that one the hard way, I suppose,” she muttered. She nodded to herself, making a mark on the papers. “Set your things on the cot beside you. You,” she indicated to Helmeppo. “Have a seat. It’ll be a few moments.” Helmeppo did as she asked and perched himself on one of the cots.

The doctor turned to Coby, and he had the vaguest feeling of unease. “Calm down,” she said. “I’m just making sure you’re healthy. It wouldn’t do for someone on the old man’s ship to be ill and then infect everyone else on the ship.” She waved a hand. “It’s just a few questions and I’ll be making sure you’re not going to infect us all with some odd East Blue bug that the only ones who are immune to it are you two and the old man.”

Coby just nodded at her, hearing her words but still incredibly confused. She could probably see the confusion and wariness in his eyes so she sighed and sat in her desk chair.  
“Like I said, just a few questions for each of you and then you’re free to go. Crystal?” Coby nodded, assuming she was asking if he understood. “Good. Alright, name and island or island chain of origin?”

Coby answered those questions and the following questions with as much accuracy as possible. The doctor looked like she appreciated it, and when she got to the part where she actually had to examine him, she was brusque and professional. A few minutes later she was done with Coby and he switched places with Helmeppo and pulled on his shirt, followed by his pants. Beyond laughing a tiny bit when Helmeppo yelped, saying the doctor’s hands were cold, Coby ignored the two for the duration of Helmeppo’s checkup, choosing instead to take a look at the doctor’s infirmary.

It was a light and airy room, with pale walls that weren’t white, but instead a pale blue. There were accents and trims in the regulation dark blue, and Coby just generally got the feel of a well maintained workplace. Between Doctor Ren’s calm, brusque attitude, and the soothing color scheme, Coby had a feeling that this was the one, truly calm place on the ship.

Coby had heard Vice Admiral Garp laugh when he decided that he wanted Coby and Helmeppo on his ship. That was not the laugh of a man who ran a calm ship.

“Well. Now I’m cold again,” Helmeppo muttered, walking back to Coby.

Coby snorted at Helmeppo’s statement and Helmeppo smacked him for it and pulled on his own clothes. Coby just rolled his eyes and turned his attention to the doctor when she walked over.

She frowned at one of the papers and looked at Coby. “You are not going to like winter islands,” she said cryptically.

Coby was about to ask her what she meant by that when she walked past him and went straight for the door, opening it and allowing a tall dark haired man to fall backwards into the infirmary.

“Hello Varnava,” she said, looking down at him. “I’ve a job for you do to for me.”

“Hallo Val. What kind of job?” The man rolled back to his feet and kept his attention focused on the doctor.

“Meet the new _skumom,_ ” she said, gesturing in Coby and Helmeppo’s direction.

Coby frowned. That was the second time that day someone had referred to them in a language other than Parlance and he wasn’t sure what, exactly, to make of it.

“Aren’t they a little young?” the man asked, looking them over.

“No younger than I was,” Doctor Ren replied, stalking back to her desk. “They’re under your jurisdiction for a little bit. I’d advise getting them to Garp, but Bogart works as well. Or you could tell them yourself. Whichever is more convenient.”

Coby stood awkwardly while the man stared at them, eventually deciding to stare back. He was tall – quite a bit taller than Coby, and lean. There were scars crisscrossing one side of his jawline that were just visible when he tipped his head. On each side were visible handles for some sort of short range weapon that Coby had yet to piece together.

Looking up at the man’s face, Coby realized that the man had easily noticed Coby studying him.

“Curious, aren’t we?” the man teased, smirking at Coby. He turned his attention back to the doctor who was seated at her desk. “I’ll be back to bother you later. Come along boys,” he said, spinning around and stepping out the door.

Coby and Helmeppo shared a look before hurrying after him, hearing an amused laugh coming from the desk.

“Oh, how I missed having greenies on ship,” Coby heard the doctor say just as the door to the infirmary was closing behind him.

The two boys followed the man – who they later learned was the head of Intelligence on Vice Admiral Garp’s ship and was wrapped around the doctor’s little finger – around the ship.

“Since you boys are currently just recruits, and aren’t actively in the officer track or anything at the moment, you’re chore boys. Virtually everyone has a different word for you depending on where they’re from,” the man said. “This means you don’t exactly have a set area where you’re supposed to belong.”

Coby just stared at him, his eyes slowly narrowing.

The man grimaced. “Yet. You don’t have a place, _yet_ ,” he emphasized. “Look, what I’m getting at is if you keep performing acts of spectacular bravery or stupidity like you did today, you’ll probably end up right in the officer’s track back at HQ.” The man shrugged. “Word of advice – don’t do stupid shit or you could die.”

Coby and Helmeppo shared a look. _Already figured that out,_ Coby thought.

The man sighed. “Look, I guess what I’m trying to say is, enjoy mopping kids; you’ll be doing a lot of it.” He threw open a door and revealed a supply closet. “Work hard.”

The boys saluted as the man walked back in the direction they’d come from. Coby could hear a faint snickering as the man walked away. When he was out of sight, they sighed, and Coby stepped into the supply closet. He picked up a bucket and grabbed a mop, moving out of the way so Helmeppo could do the same.

Five minutes later they were mopping down one of the ship’s halls.

“We’re doing the same thing we were doing at the base,” Helmeppo said, forcefully dropping his mop into the soapy bucket water.

“We’re doing it for a Vice Admiral and we’re on our way to the main Navy Headquarters?” Coby offered, mimicking Helmeppo’s actions but doing so much less forcefully, avoiding slopping the water onto the deck. Helmeppo just gave Coby a look that he interpreted as, _I know what you’re trying to do, but you’re being naïve. Again,_ before rolling his eyes and starting to mop.

They worked in silence for a while before Helmeppo asked the question Coby supposed had been on his mind since the incident earlier that day. “Coby… were you serious, earlier? When you said we were friends?”

“Of course I was serious. We’re _friends_ , Helmeppo. I’d get between you and a cannon again in a heartbeat,” Coby replied seriously.

Helmeppo paled and quickly said, “Don’t put yourself between me and a cannon again. That’s stupid dangerous. Don’t do it again. Please?”

Coby found himself nodding. “I won’t. Unless it’s really important?” he tried.

Helmeppo paused in his mopping and leveled Coby with a blank look. “Really?” he said.

Coby grinned sheepishly and shrugged lightly, moving his hands in a placating manner.

“Coby, seriously, a cannon can fire a ball with enough force to behead a guy,” Helmeppo stated.

Nodding, Coby said, “I’ve seen it happen.” _Twice_ was what he thought but didn’t say.

“Then why in the actual hell would you get between a cannon and me?” Helmeppo pointed at himself with such utter confusion, Coby couldn’t help but feel bad.

“We are _friends_ , Helmeppo.” Coby ducked his head between his shoulders in embarrassment. “I just didn’t want you to get hit by the cannonball and stuff… yeah.” Coby could feel himself blushing, and he turned around and mopped furiously.

Helmeppo was silent for a moment but then he laughed, startling a marine carrying a sheaf of paperwork. The marine gave them a dirty look and Coby shrugged apologetically. No harm was done and no papers went every which way, so the marine kept walking.

They worked silently for a while, and every so often Helmeppo punctured the silence with giggles. This prompted Coby to flush, which only made Helmeppo laugh more.

“You are the _worst_ friend,” Coby hissed at one point.

Helmeppo just snorted and replied, “Still friends though.”

“Still friends.” Coby nodded.

The two had finished the main part of the deck and looked around.

“… Helmeppo?” Coby queried. By that point, night had truly fallen, and the ship was growing dark but for some lanterns placed periodically to keep the worst of the night at bay.

“Yes, Coby?” Helmeppo replied lightly.

“Do you have any idea where we’re supposed to sleep?” Coby asked, dumping his bucket over the rail.

“Not a clue,” Helmeppo said, shaking his head. Taking Coby’s lead and dumping his own bucket, Helmeppo sighed and leaned against the railing, looking up at the sky. “We’re in for one hell of a ride, aren’t we?”

Coby mimicked his posture. “Yeah. We are.”

Helmeppo hummed in response. Stretching, he picked up his bucket and mop, prompting Coby to do the same. “Are you as tired as I am because today has been… a day.”

“That’s one way to put it,” Coby replied, shouldering his own mop. “Intense is another.”

“I’ll give you that one,” Helmeppo said.

The two walked back to the supply closet and deposited their cleaning supplies.

“So what do we do now?” Helmeppo asked, shutting the closet door.

Coby leaned against the wall and weighed their options. “Well, we could search the ship for the sleeping quarters,” he said, thinking out loud. “We could find another closet with linens and raid it for blankets and hide out somewhere in the ship.”

Helmeppo placed his face in his palms. “Please tell me those aren’t our only options?” he asked.

“Well, no. We _could_ always ask someone to point us in the right direction or show us there,” Coby replied, “but I thought we should probably get a feel for the ship _now_ , rather than later.” His brow furrowed. “Especially if we’re going to be on it for a while, which we will be, right?”

“We will,” Helmeppo said determinedly.

Nodding, Coby pushed himself off the wall. “So, what are we gonna do?” he asked. “We’ve got options, so which are we putting into action?”

Helmeppo tipped his head to the side as he thought. “The second one is a little absurd, save it for the last resort. Finding the sleeping quarters shouldn’t be too hard, and we can always ask for help if we need it, yeah?”

“Alright.” Coby started walking off to his left, really wanting to get a feel for Vice Admiral Garp’s ship and the people upon her.

Despite knowing that they needed to find the sleeping quarters, the recruits started from the top deck and worked their way down. Coby explained it would help them work out the ship and while Helmeppo rolled his eyes, he didn’t argue with the logic behind it. On the main deck, a group of marines had set up in an empty area and started working their way through various forms from a type of martial arts Coby hadn’t recognized but wanted to know more about. On the first of the lower decks, they almost ran into the doctor they’d met earlier. She dodged them, stepping out of their way without even looking up from a clipboard she was writing on. Not far behind her was the taller marine trying to talk to her, but she wasn’t listening. Coby and Helmeppo stepped off to the side and saluted him and he nodded briefly, acknowledging their existence.

They eventually found the sleeping quarters a distance down the ship, and while Helmeppo might have thought it was a waste, Coby had a much better feel for the ship than he’d had when he’d first stepped on that afternoon.

That night, Coby lie awake thinking about just how much had changed in such a short period of time. First meeting Luffy and seeing in color. (Coby would never get used to seeing sunrises in all of its glorious color. _Never_.) Then leaving Alvida and everything that lead up to him actually joining the Navy. Meeting Helmeppo, trying to be friends, and failing, only to succeed later.

In the darkness of the ship’s bowls, Coby grinned, rolling over in the hammock. He could face whatever decided to present itself.

Morning dawned bright and early and Coby got a face full of early sunlight from the porthole he hadn’t noticed the night before. Rolling out of the hammock, Coby managed to avoid landing on Helmeppo on the way down, though he did nudge the other recruit. Helmeppo snorted awake, sitting up to glare at Coby. Coby jerked his head and Helmeppo sighed, shoving his way out of his hammock and rubbing at his eyes.

“God you’re a morning person, aren’t you?” Helmeppo hissed, pinching the bridge of his nose in an attempt to force his brain to wake up with the pain once the two were outside the sleeping quarters.

“I like mornings, yes,” Coby said, glancing around the ship. It was almost eerily quiet in the post dawn light, and Coby smiled.

Helmeppo made a disgusted face and muttered, “ _Morning people_ ,” like it offended him on a personal level, but he followed Coby down the hall anyway to where they thought they had found the kitchen the night before.

Coby grinned when he pushed open the door and discovered that the room _was_ , in fact, the kitchen, and that the chef was on duty and making breakfast.

“Hello?” Coby called, his head just inside the door. The next thing he knew, a knife was vibrating slightly in the wall next to his face. “Um. I’m sorry for disturbing you?”

The chef turned around and spotted Coby. “Come in, grab the knife and make yourself useful. Your friend as well.”

Coby swallowed and stepped fully into the kitchen before trying to pull the knife out from the wall.

The chef ended up keeping the recruits in the kitchen until almost lunch, using them for their extra set of hands and periodically having them taste test something. The chef kicked them out in the late morning with a boxed lunch each, and the two shared a look before finding a spot to have their meal before returning to the cleaning they’d been planning on doing before they were roped into helping make food.

After lunch that first day, they’d set up a routine, cleaning until night fell, then doing a cursory run around the ship, mostly to get minor chores that the higher ups on the ship needed them to do. The cursory runs around the ship were also to, in Coby’s opinion, get more familiar with the higher ups and how they ran the ship.

Coby discovered, much to his concern, that there were surprisingly few officers on Vice Admiral Garp’s ship – there were few beyond those that he’d met in his first few hours on the ship. Coby wasn’t sure how this worked, but chalked it up to a possibility that Vice Admiral Garp didn’t want an officer heavy ship. There was also the possibility that Vice Admiral Garp was strange, but Coby didn’t hold onto that idea for more than a few seconds, though he really should have thought it through longer.

Another thing Coby learned over the first few days of being on the Vice Admiral’s ship was that he and Helmeppo were the only recruits and had been the only ones on the ship in some time. The third night, Coby voiced these thoughts to Helmeppo. Helmeppo just rolled his eyes and told Coby he was thinking too hard about it. While Coby might have agreed, he still kept those thoughts in mind.

Day four on the Vice Admiral’s ship brought an unexpectedly intense moment with it.

“We’re _what_?” Helmeppo said, staring at Coby.

“Like I said, we’re apparently crossing the Calm Belt,” Coby replied, snagging Helmeppo’s bucket of water and promptly dumping it like he had his two minutes before. “I heard – do you know what rank Bogart is because I haven’t figured out yet – anyway,” Coby shook his head and focused on the main point of what he was trying to say. “Anyway, I heard Bogart tell Captain Lukin to prep for sailing through the Calm Belt and do you _really_ want to be mopping when we go through?” Coby asked Helmeppo.

“The Calm Belt? As in, the one where _sea kings_ have babies?” Helmeppo asked, his brow knitting in a now familiar knit of concern.

“Yes, that one,” Coby replied, stacking the buckets and taking Helmeppo’s mop. He walked to the door to the next deck. “Are you coming?” he asked, pausing at the door.

Helmeppo sighed, shoulders slumping slightly. “Yeah, hold on.” He followed Coby down to the supply closet and the two dropped the mops and buckets off in it.

When the two got back to the top deck where they could see and watch, Coby noticed that they had to be getting close to the Calm Belt as the activity on the ship slowly started grinding to a halt. Most went below decks but a few stayed above, and fewer still joined those already on the main deck.

The last to join the crew on the main deck were Vice Admiral Garp and Bogart, the latter a couple steps behind and just to the side as Coby had grown accustomed to seeing him whenever the two were walking together. Vice Admiral Garp laughed at something, and Coby couldn’t help but frown a little when he heard it.

 _What about the sea kings?_ he thought, looking out across the water. _We don’t want to attract them, do we?_

Coby was about to ask the questions aloud when Vice Admiral Garp put up a hand and made a fist of it and the ship slowed to a stop.

“We’re heading into enemy territory, gentlemen,” Vice Admiral Garp announced, lowering his fist. “Here be monsters.”

Coby could see the Vice Admiral’s shit eating grin and knew that it posed nothing but trouble. “Please don’t let there be sea kings,” he muttered, looking out across the waters the ship was facing. One spot looked like it was boiling up. “ _Please_ don’t let there be sea kings,” he repeated, paling. Coby could hear Helmeppo’s gulp beside him.

“Do you think we’ll see any sea kings?” Helmeppo whispered, eyes jumping from point to point on the water.

“Helmeppo shut up,” Coby hissed, glowering at Helmeppo.

“It’s a genuine concern,” Helmeppo whispered back, frowning at Coby’s glower.

The spot that Coby had been staring at bubbled up and a fairly small sea king shoved its head above the water. It looked about but seemingly didn’t notice Vice Admiral Garp’s ship, so when it dropped back down into the water, Coby breathed a sigh of relief. He glanced over at the Vice Admiral only to see the old man was grinning widely.

“Set sail through the Belt,” he commanded, dropping to the deck and sitting cross legged. The sails unfurled and the ship slowly rolled forward across the Calm Belt. Tensions ratcheted up as everyone silently watched and waited as they crossed the strip of water that separated the Four Blues and the Grand Line. Coby noticed the change in color of the water as they sailed across. The Calm Belt was a brighter, clearer shade of blue-ish water than what Coby was familiar with in East Blue.

Sailing through the Calm belt didn’t take very long, and within a few hours, the ship was crossing into the Grand Line. The sail through was rife with unease, as though all of the officers on deck were waiting for something to happen. Vice Admiral Garp alone was the only one who relaxed at all over the course of the trip. The nervousness of the crew fed off tension of the officers, and the two chore boys nervously went back to cleaning, just for an excuse to stay on the deck and watch what was happening.

Coby wasn’t even cleaning too attentively, too distracted and agitated to focus on cleaning. It didn’t really matter, though, since no one was paying enough attention to him to tell him to get back to proper work. At any rate, no one was doing their work without distraction.

If the Calm Belt had turned Vice Admiral Garp’s crew into silent grim reapers, the sound of someone yelling, “We’ve passed into Paradise! We’re on the Line!” sent the crew into a frenzy of action, Marine Officers shouting and yelling as they kicked into motion.

Coby was sent all over the ship running communiques, transferring requests, and doing odd jobs. The ship took long enough in preparation for sailing the Grand Line after they left the Calm Belt that it was full dark and the crew was exhausted. Vice Admiral Garp was seemingly dozing in the center of the main deck, and Coby wasn’t entirely sure he could blame him.

 _He could just be messing with us_ , Coby thought, eyeing the Vice Admiral. Over the few days Coby had had on Vice Admiral Garp’s ship, he’d come to respect the Vice Admiral, though Coby’d also come to suspect every move Vice Admiral Garp made. Coby suspected that Vice Admiral Garp spent most of his time thinking of ways to torment his crew and ship. That was just the kind of personality Coby had discovered that Vice Admiral Garp had.

Coby was distracted from his tired musing by accidentally overhearing a conversation.

“I hate the Grand Line. I miss West Blue,” Captain Lukin said. Coby had finally learned that Captain Lukin was the same man who had given himself and Helmeppo an impromptu tour of the ship the first afternoon they were on the ship.

“You work here. Deal with it,” the ship’s doctor said, stretching out.

“Can we get transferred back to West Blue? I liked West Blue,” the Captain stated, taking the towel the doctor handed him without much argument.

“You almost died in West Blue.” The doctor’s voice was carefully flat, and she paused for a good moment.

“Eh, details.” His voice was dismissive, probably of the fact that he’d nearly died.

“Hey, there you are.” Coby opened his eyes and jerked in the direction he heard Helmeppo’s voice. Coby didn’t realize he’d shut his eyes for that long.

“Hey,” Coby replied, blinking rapidly a few times.

“Falling asleep on your feet? Really?” Helmeppo said. Coby just looked at him. “Yeah, okay I don’t blame you. But hey, good news.”

“Good news?” Coby replied, shoving his glasses up and scrubbing at his face.

“Yep. I just found out we’re not far out from an island and we’ll probably stop in port for the night,” Helmeppo said, lacing his hands behind his head.

Coby hummed. “It doesn’t help if the crew is already worn out.”

“Helps a little bit, yeah?” Helmeppo shrugged. “With morale and stuff.”

Coby looked at Helmeppo with a tired expression. “I’m pretty sure everyone would do well with sleep. I don’t know about you, but that was more nerve wracking than it needed to be.”

“It really was,” Helmeppo agreed. “Do you think it’s always this hectic?”

“I have a terrible feeling it’s always this hectic,” Coby said. Helmeppo sighed with a forlorn look on his face. “It’s going to be interesting.”

“It’s going to be terrible,” Helmeppo countered.

Coby grinned. “I notice you’re not arguing with me.”

“I’m not saying that it won’t be interesting,” Helmeppo said. “I’m just saying that it’s going to be terrible.”

Coby shook his head. “C’mon, I’m pretty sure we should get some rest before we get pulled into something. Everyone’s winding down from this afternoon.”

“Yeah.” Helmeppo made a motion like he was asking Coby to start moving. Coby stood up from where he’d sat down out of the way.

Coby stretched out and yawned, shoulders popping as he moved his arms. He shifted, his back cracking a few times.

“Better?” Helmeppo asked.

“Better.” Coby nodded, shaking out his hands. “Today was long.”

“Very long.” Helmeppo nodded in agreement.

“Want to avoid everyone who can give us orders?”

Helmeppo gave Coby a flat look. “Coby, _you’re_ falling asleep. _I’m_ exhausted. Yeah, I want to avoid them for right now.” Coby nodded, yawning again. Helmeppo snorted. “Like I said,” he muttered smugly.

Coby shoved him slightly and Helmeppo snickered. “Let’s go. Hide maybe.” Coby shrugged.

“You’re usually much more energetic,” Helmeppo remarked as the two started crossing the deck.

“I think everyone’s worn out from this afternoon.” Coby frowned. “You’d think they’d be used to it though, right?” Coby asked. “Since this _is_ a ship from Headquarters, yeah?”

Helmeppo nodded. “Maybe there was something going on that they could sense and we couldn’t?

“Maybe. I mean, we _are_ just recruits,” Coby responded. Biting his lip, he opened the door to the lower decks. “It makes sense, yeah?”

“Yeah.”

“Let’s just hope we get to Headquarters quietly,” Coby muttered.

Helmeppo nodded in agreement. “Getting to Headquarters quietly would be perfect at this point.” He looked at Coby. “Do you really think it’s going to happen?”

Coby looked back at him. “Not a chance. Not one. We ended up on this ship because you stood up to your dad and I got between you and a cannon.” Coby stopped walking for a moment. “There is no possible way that we could get to Headquarters without something going at least a little bit horribly wrong.”

“Of course,” Helmeppo agreed.

Unbeknownst to either Coby or Helmeppo at the time, a sense of anticipation would agitate the ship for the entire rest of the trip to Naval Headquarters at Marineford, despite a short stop at the first island they came across. Being chore boys, Coby and Helmeppo were particularly sensitive to the moods of the crew. They were tense and jumpy, snapping to attention nearly instantly whenever they were passed by someone with any authority. More often than not, they weren’t even acknowledged by the officers, who seemed distracted.

The relief when Vice Admiral Garp’s ship docked at Headquarters without incident was almost palpable. The tense atmosphere dissipated almost as soon as the ship had docked, and Coby and Helmeppo started moving things onto the dock without being prompted.

Coby remarked to Helmeppo while they were in the process of unloading the ship, “I don’t think interesting is going to be the right word anymore.” Helmeppo just nodded. 


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In which Coby and Helmeppo are no longer Chore Boys

A few nights after arriving at Headquarters, Coby climbed out of the bunk he’d been assigned as silently as he could, almost making it to the door before the floor creaked.

“Coby what’re you doing?” came from Helmeppo’s bunk.

Coby froze for a few seconds before he sighed and turned around. “I was going to go to the training grounds?” he offered.

Helmeppo stared at him. “By yourself?” he asked.

“I couldn’t sleep and I wanted to go for a run?” Coby tried. “I used to do it sometimes back on the island I grew up on?”

Helmeppo sighed and pushed himself up out of bed.

“What are you doing?” Coby asked.

Helmeppo stretched, snagging his shirt and pulling it on. “What does it look like?” Coby narrowed his eyes behind his glasses. “I’m going with you.”

“Alright, come on,” Coby said, leaning on the door for the short minute Helmeppo took to snag his boots and put them on.

The two walked the quiet halls of Headquarters as they headed to the closest set of training grounds. When they got there, the area was empty and still. No one was at the training grounds except for the two of them. Coby glanced around to make sure they were alone before walking to the track that was set up in the middle of the grounds.

Nodding to himself, Coby took off his glasses and moved about in place, warming up a little. “I’m just running as many laps as I can,” he told Helmeppo. “You don’t have to join me in running them, but you can if you want.”

Helmeppo nodded, and the two started running laps. After a while, Helmeppo cut out, unable to keep running. Coby huffed in amusement and grinned, but kept running. As Coby ran, he noticed Helmeppo doing various other exercises and stretches. Coby kept running, pushing himself farther and farther before he tripped on a rock and fell on his face.

As Coby pushed himself to his feet, he heard Helmeppo laughing. “You’re a terrible friend!” he called, glad he wasn’t wearing his glasses. He wiped the seat from his brow and jogged back to where Helmeppo was laughing. He pulled up short. “Why are you laughing at me upside down?” he asked.

From his position on upside down on a bar, Helmeppo replied, “Crunches?” Coby snorted and Helmeppo just shrugged and did a few more crunches before grabbing the bar and rolling off.

“Your nose isn’t broken, is it?” he asked, picking up his shirt and wiping off his sweat.

“It’s not.” Coby shook his head and picked up his own shirt and his glasses. He put his glasses on and slid into his shirt.

The two grabbed quick showers before heading back to their bunk.

Once there, Helmeppo asked, “You’re doing this again tomorrow, aren’t you?”

Coby nodded. “Every night I can. I _have_ to get stronger.”

Helmeppo nodded back with a pondering expression on his face. “Right. Well, I’ll be joining you. You going off and doing things on your own seems like a really bad idea.”

Coby stopped what he was doing. “I can’t be that bad.”

“You got between a cannon and me.” Helmeppo’s voice was flat and disapproving.

“You’re not going to drop that are you?”

“No!” Helmeppo threw his hands in the air.

“Its water under the ship – it happened and I lived.” Coby shrugged and ignored Helmeppo putting his face in his hands as he sat on his bunk.

“You win this round,” Helmeppo said vehemently, fixing Coby with a pointed stare. Coby just grinned sheepishly back.

“We’re never going to get better if all we do is mop and laundry,” Coby said quietly, sitting on the bunk next to Helmeppo. “We have to get as good as the others… no, we have to be better.”

Helmeppo stared at Coby for a minute before responding. “This is insane and you know it, Coby.”

“Maybe,” Coby conceded. “Maybe. But I’m still going to do it.”

Helmeppo frowned at him and then shoved Coby off his bunk. “Get some sleep you idiot.”

Coby just rolled his eyes and got into his own bunk, curling up in a ball. “Night,” he said.

“Night.”

A few days later, the boys were cleaning near the training grounds. The two recruits paused for a moment to watch the Marines going through training.

“They’re going through so much crap and most of them aren’t even going to be officers,” Helmeppo said. “Probably none of them.” He made a face and bit his lip. “I can’t do this. There’s no _way_ I can do this.”

Coby frowned and gripped his mop tight. “Helmeppo.” When Helmeppo looked at him, Coby continued, “Really? You think you can’t do this? What happened to your aspirations? Your dreams?”

Helmeppo threw out a hand. “Do you see what they’re doing Coby? It’s impossible.”

Coby pursed his lips, glanced around to make sure no one was watching them, and grabbed Helmeppo’s arm, pulling him to a secluded spot nearby. When they got to the spot, Coby shoved Helmeppo behind a box and hissed, “You sound like me when I was on Alvida’s ship. It’s not a good thing.”

Helmeppo looked alarmed. “What do you mean by that?”

“You think having a dream is impossible,” Coby said.

“Coby, I can’t do any of this. I should just leave.” Helmeppo glanced away from Coby’s stare to look out at the grounds.

“ _Leave?!_ You can’t just leave!” Coby’s voice cracked as it reached high in pitch. “What about that stuff you were saying the other night? That ‘You’ll get in trouble if I leave you alone’ stuff.”

Helmeppo’s alarm at Coby’s words was intense. “We’re not ready. How could we be ready for this?”

Coby balled his fists, but he was overridden when he tried to talk.

“What’s this about leaving?” Coby watched the blood drain from Helmeppo’s face and knew that his own face matched. Vice Admiral Garp was right behind him. “Well boys? Leaving, are we?”

Coby turned around with a snap. “Not a chance, sir!” he said determinedly. In the corner of his eye, Coby could see Helmeppo nodding emphatically in agreement. “We’d do anything to become marines!”

“Anything, you said?” Coby caught a glimpse of something in Vice Admiral Garp’s eyes; something Coby could just _tell_ was going to be bad news for himself and Helmeppo. “You did say _anything_ , correct?”

“Yes sir!” Coby answered.

“Then get back to work!” he shouted. Coby and Helmeppo both jumped and sprinted out of the alley way. They could hear Garp’s laugh from several buildings down.

This went on for several days. Whenever Coby and Helmeppo took a moment to breathe, Vice Admiral Garp wasn’t far behind, ready to terrify the two recruits back into motion. The night after the fifth day of Vice Admiral Garp seemingly stalking the two recruits, Coby sat in his bunk running his hands through his hair. Helmeppo lay in his own bunk, and Coby could hear him breathing hard.

Coby made a frustrated noise and Helmeppo made a questioning sound. Coby took that as a cue to stand up and stalk over to his set of drawers.

“Coby what the hell?” Helmeppo sat up and asked, staring at his friend’s back.

Coby repeated the inarticulate frustrated sound from a few minutes before and forcefully shut the drawer he was digging through. He huffed angrily and ran his hands through his hair, leaning against the dresser.

“Look. I’ve been thinking,” Helmeppo said, just to fill the silence. “I miss my old life, y’know. It was nice. Easy.” He flopped back down onto his bunk, the action making a soft _whump_.

“You were a terrible person,” Coby pointed out.

“Details.” Helmeppo lazily waved a hand in the air. Coby made a noise indicating Helmeppo should continue. “Anyway, as I was saying, it was a good life. A life I would love to have again.”

“Yeah?” Coby finally looked up from staring angrily at the floor and raised an eyebrow at Helmeppo.

“Thing is, I can’t run or slack off, if I really want to get that life back. So!” Helmeppo sat up suddenly, swinging his legs off the bunk. “I’m going to do better than my father and be a better marine than he ever was!”

Coby blinked at Helmeppo for a moment as Helmeppo jumped from his bunk and started rummaging through his own dresser. “Wha… what are you doing?” Coby asked.

Helmeppo looked at him with a manic grin. “I’m going to train. I can’t be a chore boy forever if I want that life back.”

Coby laughed, putting a hand on his face. “Here I thought I’d never do anything weak again,” he said. “My reasons are different but… I’m going to get stronger!”

Helmeppo just smirked. “Good! You’ll have to beat me if you want to do that!”

“I was hoping you’d say that!”

Waving his hand, Helmeppo walked out the door. “Later, Coby.”

Coby yelped and snagged his shoes, hopping to put them on and not get left behind. “Oi! Wait up!” he called, sliding on the second shoe with a little trouble before running out the door.

Coby caught up fairly quickly and the two raced to the training grounds where they kept pushing each other to keep going.

This continued for a few weeks – during the day, Coby and Helmeppo would continue doing their role as chore boys but at night they would sneak out to the training grounds and try to get as strong as they could, despite not having assistance. Their determination helped propel them along.

Their plan worked fine until one afternoon when they were pulling weeds in one of the lawns. Coby could hear a trio of officers talking amongst each other at a bounty wall. He was content with just off-handedly listening to them while he pulled weeds but then one of them mentioned Luffy. Pausing, Coby actually listened to what they were saying.

“Monkey D. Luffy, huh? Thirty million beri for this one?” the first Marine scoffed.

“Catch him and execute him like the rest,” the second said.

“Of course,” the third agreed as they walked away.

Coby was gripping the weeds in his hands tightly, ripping them violently from the ground.

“Don’t do anything stupid, Coby,” Helmeppo whisper-hissed, side-eying Coby.

“Luffy isn’t like that,” Coby said, deceptively calm.

“He’s still a pirate,” Helmeppo hissed. “If a pirate gets caught, they get executed; that’s how it _works_.”

“I know how it works, Helmeppo,” Coby growled. He threw the weeds in his hands in the pile they’d been working on and gripped another plant. “It’s just… It’s Luffy.” Coby sighed. “We’re friends,” he mumbled.

Helmeppo tackled Coby from the side, slamming his hand over Coby’s mouth. “Don’t say that, you idiot! Pirates and Marines aren’t friends. They can’t be friends!” Helmeppo said, glancing around to see if anyone had heard Coby.

Coby pulled Helmeppo’s hand away from his mouth, growling angrily, “You think I don’t know that? I’m not going to go around saying that all… Willy nilly.” Coby waved a handful of weeds. “You’re the only one who knows.” He sighed, blowing his bangs out of his eyes. “Can we just… go back to picking grass?” he asked.

“Yeah,” Helmeppo replied, tossing the grassy weeds in his own hands into the pile that was forming.

Someone cleared their throat behind Coby and Helmeppo, and the boys froze.

 _Oh no,_ Coby thought. _This isn’t good._ Coby swallowed, slowly turning around to find Vice Admiral Garp right behind him. Coby and Helmeppo both screamed, throwing the weedy grass into the air as they backed up from the Vice Admiral. _This is really not good_.

“Hello boys,” Vice Admiral Garp said. “What are you up to?”

His voice was too nice to be true, but Coby answered, “Picking weeds?” hoping beyond hope that it would work and the Vice Admiral would be satisfied with that answer.

Unfortunately for Coby, Vice Admiral Garp just grinned and said, “Follow me boys. We need to have a talk.” The Vice Admiral got up from his seat and started walking away.

 ** _Shit_** , Coby thought. He shared a look with Helmeppo and the two of them quickly got to their feet and followed Vice Admiral Garp.

 _We’re doomed,_ Coby thought. _We’re doomed, we’re doomed. There’s no saving us. He’s going to kill us or **worse** – kick us out._

Coby fretted as he followed Vice Admiral Garp down the suspiciously empty halls of Headquarters to a beach just outside of the complex.

“Friends with pirates, what is this world coming too?” Vice Admiral Garp asked the air after a few silent minutes at the beach. He chomped on his cigar for a moment. “How badly do you boys want to be Marines?”

That wasn’t the question Coby was expecting, so he was stunned silent. “How badly…. I would die to become a Marine!” he answered forcefully a minute later. He heard Helmeppo echo the sentiment a second later.

Garp chewed on his cigar more as he seemed to contemplate their answer. “Die, huh? Well then… Come at me!” he suddenly declared, tossing a couple of bamboo practice swords at them. By some sort of miracle, they both caught the bamboo swords. The boys froze with the bamboo swords, not entirely sure if Vice Admiral Garp was being serious.

Coby nodded shortly to himself, a quick motion and he gripped the bamboo sword tight in his hands as both he and Helmeppo launched themselves at Vice Admiral Garp.

The next thing Coby knew, he was flat on his back in the sand.

“Bah. What was I thinking, thinking you were ready,” Garp said, turning his back on Coby and Helmeppo.

Coby gritted his teeth and pushed himself to his feet. “I’m not dead yet,” he responded, readjusting his grip on the bamboo sword. “The only way I’ll stop trying to become a Marine is if I’m dead.” Coby took a deep breath and attacked again.

Again he ended up on the ground, but Coby, and then Helmeppo, got back to their feet and tried again. And again. And again.

A couple of hours later, when dusk was falling, they still hadn’t given up, trying to push themselves up from the ground even though they were exhausted beyond reason.

Bogart was sitting on the hill overlooking the beach during all of this, and finally he called out, “Sir? I think they’re done.”

Vice Admiral Garp sighed, and Coby looked up at him from his spot on the ground. “I was testing you boys to see if you were strong or weak, but this is pathetic.” Vice Admiral Garp hauled them to their feet roughly and set them on the ground. “Back to base, both of you,” he ordered.

Coby and Helmeppo shared a look before starting the trudge back to Headquarters, Vice Admiral Garp and Bogart in front of them. While walking, Coby gingerly touched a spot on his head where he thought he’d gotten hit particularly hard.

He hissed in pain when he pressed the spot a little too hard, but he didn’t feel any dampness beyond what could reasonably be passed on as sweat. Coby just sighed a little bit but shook his head when Helmeppo gave him a questioning look.

A few minutes later Vice Admiral Garp stopped them in front of a door. “Bogart, I leave them in your capable hands,” he said, grinning. To Coby, Bogart seemed slightly taken aback, but the marine rolled with it and snapped off a salute to the Vice Admiral. Vice Admiral Garp just laughed as he walked off.

Bogart sharply huffed through his nose before sharply turning on his heel. “Follow me,” he said, leading them down a quiet hallway. Without any change in weariness, Coby and Helmeppo followed him down the hallway, past half open doors and quiet conversations to a doorway with a small plaque on it that simply read ‘ _Medical._ ’

Bogart opened the door and led them through, rapping on the door sharply as he did so.

“I’ll get it, Dr. Fishbonen. It’s probably some idiot who needs pieced back together anyway.” The speaker appeared from a back room, calling over their shoulder. When Coby blinked properly, he was able to see that it was the doctor who’d been on Vice Admiral Garp’s ship. “Oh, hello sir.” She nodded. Bogart returned her acknowledgment of his existence with one of his own. “I know you well enough to know that you’d just as well not want to be here, so can I safely assume the two _skumom_ behind you did something idiotic?” she asked, striding to a desk in order to grab something that Coby couldn’t see off hand.

“Garp,” Bogart answered.

The doctor gave a low whistle. “Sit down boys and let me do my job.” She turned around with a stethoscope in one hand and something oddly shaped in the other. The doctor must have read something on Coby’s face because she sighed and said, “Every other time the old man has had apprentices and done this, they’ve always come in here concussed. Every god damn time.” She pointed at the bed Coby was standing next to. “ _Sit._ ”

Coby sat, and beside him, Helmeppo sat as well.

The doctor smiled brightly at Bogart. “See, the right inflection and they will do anything you say,” she said.

Bogart snorted and replied, “Do your job, _Doctor_ Ren.”

“Aye, aye,” she said, dismissively waving at him and turning her attention to Coby. “Coby, aye?” she asked, placing the stethoscope around her neck and pulling a pair of bright gloves from a pocket on her medical coat. Pulling the gloves on, she stared Coby in the eyes, searching.

“Y-yeah,” Coby replied, slightly nervous.

Dr. Ren hummed in response and turned a light on, shining it in Coby’s eyes. Coby blinked and tried to pull back, but Dr. Ren stopped him by saying, “Hold still, I’m checking for a concussion. The old man has a calling card, I swear.” Coby stayed silent, allowing the doctor to manipulate his head as she checked to see just how badly Vice Admiral Garp had managed to injure him. “Probably not concussed, but come back in the morning for a follow up,” she said eventually, releasing Coby’s head.

Coby nodded in agreement. The doctor had shot up in the list of people it was incredibly important to listen to. He sat silently while Dr. Ren gave Helmeppo the same checkup that she’d just finished on him.

“Good news, no concussions on either of them.” She turned to address Coby and Helmeppo directly. “You boys actually get sleep before you come in here or you will be doing work for me all day,” she threatened. “You do _not_ want to be doing work for me all day.”

“Yes’m,” Coby said, nodding frantically. Helmeppo agreed with him, nodding frantically and echoing Coby as well.

“There. Your apprentices, should they stay that way, are just fine,” she said to Bogart with an amused smile adorning her lips.

Bogart’s typical scowl deepened. “Keep your ideas to yourself, _Doctor_ ,” he said.

The doctor grinned widely with amusement and laughed, saying, “You know I’m right.”

Coby watched the exchange with a confused look on his face. Glancing at Helmeppo, he noticed the blond was just as confused.

 _We’re actually apprentices now?_ he thought, though he didn’t say it aloud. He caught Helmeppo glancing at him and shrugged lightly.

“You boys are dismissed,” Bogart said, turning and stalking out of the infirmary.

When Coby shifted to look back at the doctor, she was smirking. “Get out of here, kids. Eat and sleep – doctor’s orders.”

Coby nodded, saying, “Thank you.”

As he and Helmeppo were exiting the infirmary, he heard the doctor say, “Don’t thank me yet.”

After a minute or two of walking down the hallways at Headquarters, Helmeppo said, “‘Don’t thank me yet’? Ominous.”

“Yeah,” Coby said. He pressed a hand to his forehead.

“You okay?” Helmeppo asked.

“Yeah. Just a headache from getting thrown to the ground. A lot,” he replied. “Food and sleep?”

Helmeppo nodded. “Food and sleep.”

The two made their way to the kitchen, where a tired looking kitchen aide handed them each a plate before shooing them out.

Coby and Helmeppo walked to the room they’d been assigned and sat on their bunks, eating the food in silence for a while.

Helmeppo broke the quiet after a while. “Think we can do this?” he asked.

“Yeah. I mean, yeah we got tossed around pretty bad, but we survived,” Coby replied. “We can do this.”

Helmeppo nodded, munching on a piece of fruit. “Yeah. Okay.”

Coby set his plate on his dresser and flopped on his bunk. “Ow.” Helmeppo hummed at him. “I should not have done that.”

Helmeppo snorted. “Your own fault,” he said.

“Yeah, it was.” Coby huffed in amusement for a moment before he started laughing. A moment later, Helmeppo joined in, and the boys just laughed for a while. “Oh god this is going to be insane,” Coby said eventually, when he finally stopped laughing.

“It really will be,” Helmeppo replied.

Coby held up his fist toward Helmeppo, and Helmeppo just stared at it.

“What are you doing?” he asked, confused.

“Bump it with your fist. It’s a southern East Blue thing,” he explained. “It’s like, emotions that you share with a friend.”

 Still frowning, Helmeppo bumped fists with Coby.

There was a moment of silence.

“Coby that was the strangest thing you’ve ever had me do,” Helmeppo said.

Coby shrugged. “It’s something you get used to, I guess.”

“This whole _life_ is something we have to get used to,” Helmeppo replied.

“It really will be,” Coby said.


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In which Coby gets to meet Luffy for the First time in Several Months

A month passed and Coby and Helmeppo cleaned in the day and trained at night, pushing each other hard. A few times, and more often as the month had passed, Bogart would show up to train them, explaining what he was doing as he was doing it. A couple of times, the captain who’d been on Vice Admiral Garp’s ship showed up to watch and give pointers, nudging Coby and Helmeppo into better forms.

“You’ll get hit less, and you can recover your form better,” he explained one night, shifting Helmeppo’s stance. “Believe you me; you want a good stance if you’re using two weapons like you’ve been.”

Helmeppo nodded, holding the form for a moment and shifting to attack Coby, who was braced for the attack.

“Much better this time,” the captain said. “Do it again.”

Helmeppo nodded and he attacked again. He repeated the motions a few more times.

“Repetition is key,” the captain said. “Keep practicing and you’ll have it down pat.”

Helmeppo saluted, saying, “Thank you.”

The captain grinned. “Polite kid. Sir, I leave them to you.” He saluted, walking away.

Bogart nodded in return. “Again,” he said, turning his attention back to Coby and Helmeppo.

The boys nodded and started sparring again.

During the month, the boys got stronger and more able to hold their own for longer periods of time. By the end of it, they were on their way to becoming officers, having been promoted to Petty Officers.

Being promoted changed their daily activities. Where before they were cleaning from morning until dusk, after the promotion they spent a lot of time running paperwork anywhere across Navy Headquarters that Vice Admiral Garp needed them to. Their days also included a lot of following Vice Admiral Garp around in general, learning what _he_ did.

Most of the time, what Vice Admiral Garp did was torment recruits and make Coby and Helmeppo run all over Headquarters.

One afternoon when they’d finally gotten a break from Vice Admiral Garp running them ragged.

Coby frowned, his peripheral vision slightly greyed out. There wasn’t much, and Coby was only catching flashes of it if he wasn’t trying to focus on it. At one point the grey was fully visible on the edges of Coby’s vision, but it soon went back to full color. Coby spent the afternoon in a deeply confused and concerned rut, and when Helmeppo asked if he was alright, Coby snapped, “I don’t know!” and angrily paced the length of the room.

Helmeppo had just rolled his eyes and gone back to sorting files. “Well when you get your mind sorted out, let me know yeah?”

Coby made an inarticulate noise and sat down on a chair, rubbing his face with his hands and then running his hands through his hair. He looked at Helmeppo. “Something’s not right and I don’t know what it is,” he said. “It’s just… bothering me.”

“I can see that,” Helmeppo responded dryly.

Coby stared at Helmeppo with a flat look on his face. “You are not helping.”

“And you being angry with me isn’t helping these files get sorted,” Helmeppo stated. “So would you please assist me?”

With a sigh, Coby sat down at a pile of papers and started restacking them in more appropriate piles.

It wasn’t until a couple of days later that Coby figured out what had happened. While passing one of the bounty boards, Coby noticed something different on Luffy’s poster.

“Huh, his bounty’s up to a hundred million,” Coby said, glossing over the bounty poster. He froze. “A _hundred_ million beri?!” he exclaimed, shocked. He glanced around to see if there was anyone around before he ran to where he figured Helmeppo would be.

A running chore boy was trouble, but, to Coby’s advantage, a running Petty Officer most likely had important files for someone fairly high up in the echelon of officers and was avoided without much effort or acknowledgment. Coby knew this and he still apologized when he ran through the hallways and dodged around clusters of Marines.

Coby found Helmeppo carrying a stack of reports and took half.

“I think I figured out what was bothering me the other day,” he told Helmeppo.

Helmeppo nodded. “Alright, two questions. One, where’ve you _been?_ And two, what happened?”

“Vice Admiral Garp had me run a report to Vice Admiral Momonga on the other side of the base,” Coby said quickly. “What _happened_ , is I think you know who had a close brush with death.” The second sentence was spoken with hushed words as the two carried the files through Headquarters. Coby had spilled the whole soul mate situation to Helmeppo not long after they’d gotten to Headquarters, so the blond knew what little Coby knew about the situation.

Helmeppo made a curious hum and asked, “What gave you that impression?”

“I saw the updated bounty on the bounty board. A hundred million beri. A hundred million.” Coby made a distressed sound and placed his head on his files. “He’s an idiot.”

“He is,” Helmeppo agreed. “I think there might be something in the news. I overheard something about Alabasta when the old man was talking to the Fleet Admiral.” Helmeppo shrugged, barely making the stack of files move.

Coby glanced at Helmeppo. “We’re not stealing Vice Admiral Garp’s paper.”

“We’re not stealing it,” Helmeppo replied, offended. “We’re borrowing it when he’s finished.” Helmeppo sniffed a little, affronted by Coby’s statement.

“Ah. Right.” Coby nodded shortly. There was a moment of silence. “You do know where these are going, right?” Coby asked quietly.

“Decommissioned Records, and Captain Lukin was heading towards Vice Admiral Garp’s office so we’re probably going to get borrowed for the afternoon.” Helmeppo made a face.

Coby shrugged. “Could be worse. Vice Admiral Garp _could_ throw us back into that jungle, _and_ Captain Lukin isn’t going to purposefully maim us.”

Helmeppo sighed. “It’s always going to be like this, isn’t it?”

Coby glanced over at him. “Yeah, probably. C’mon, let’s get these put away, yeah?”

“Yeah.”

That evening, after they swiped Vice Admiral Garp’s newspaper, they found out what had been going on.

“So he’s an idiot that took out one of the Warlords,” Helmeppo summed up. “I’m kind of impressed.”

Biting his lip, Coby scanned the article a few times. “This isn’t the entire story,” he said eventually. “But that _idiot_.” Coby blew his bangs out of his face. “I should have known as soon as he punched Alvida in the face he was going to be a handful.” He groaned. “Well, now I know for next time, and there _will_ be a next time.”

“Of course there’s going to be a next time. It’s _him_ ,” Helmeppo agreed.

Coby groaned again. “You’re not supposed to agree with me!”

Helmeppo’s voice dropped in volume. “Coby, I’ve met Luffy. I have no doubts whatsoever that there will be a next time.”

Coby put his face in his hands. "If he keeps doing this I'm going to have to punch him in the face," he said.

"Tell you what," Helmeppo started, "I'll lend you a hand."

"Thanks," Coby said quietly.

Helmeppo frowned, and then smacked Coby with his pillow. When Coby looked at him with a confused, slightly offended look on his face, Helmeppo said, "We'll deal with it a bit at a time, yeah? First we've got to get strong enough to punch Luffy in the face." He shrugged nonchalantly, fluffing out his pillow and placing it back on his bed like he hadn't just hit Coby with it.

Coby laughed. "Yeah, you're right."

"'Course I'm right," Helmeppo responded. "I'm always right." A hand went to his chest and he dramatically struck a pose.

Coby just threw his pillow at Helmeppo, hitting the blond in the face. "Go to bed. I think tomorrow's supposed to get intense. I thought I saw Doctor Ren out on the training grounds, and you _know_ her being out on the grounds never spells anything good for us." Both boys shuddered. The first time the doctor had shown up while they were training, she just watched a while and disappeared after a bit.

The second time was a bit more intense. She'd shown up in black pants and a white shirt, with Captain Lukin following her, trying to talk her out of doing what she proceeded to do anyway, which was _supposedly_ give them a lesson in unarmed combat, but it felt more like a beat down. Coby had the full intention of asking her how she did what she did and if the doctor would teach him what she knew.

Time passed quickly between running all over Headquarters and training. Rarely did the two get an afternoon off, as not only did Vice Admiral Garp have top priority over Coby and Helmeppo's training, but his officers kept joining in to give them a bigger base of knowledge.

Finally, one afternoon when they had neither a training session with someone nor were they running around for Vice Admiral Garp, Coby and Helmeppo were sitting near the Fleet Admiral's office, where Garp was currently in a "meeting" with him. The two young men were in an out of the way spot in the hallway, reading old reports once more and discussing the reports in low voices.

"So what you're saying is that had they arrested his first mate _before_ arresting the captain, the rest of the crew would have given up?" Coby asked, disbelief evident in his voice.

Helmeppo nodded. "That is _exactly_ what I'm saying. Go for the first mate and then for the captain - that knocks out the two most powerful members of the crew," he explained. "Usually, the crew won't have anyone to rally behind, and they'll fall apart."

"Huh. That makes sense," Coby agreed. "But what if they do continue fighting? What would you suggest then?"

Helmeppo frowned as he thought about that. "Keep fighting them, I guess." He shrugged. "There really isn't much else, is there?"

Coby shook his head. "There isn't." Scowling, Coby made a mark on the spare sheet of paper he had with him, noting the report for further perusal.

Right about then, a marine with an Intelligence Officer's jacket made a sharp turn into the hallway, sprinting down it. Coby, Helmeppo, and the marines on guard duty stared at him in disbelief as he skidded to a stop in front of the Fleet Admiral's office. The officer stood in front of the door for a moment, breathing harshly and seemingly oblivious to the four people watching. He knocked hard on the door and vibrated to attention, a panic-stricken look on his face.

"Sir! There's a problem!" He saluted as the door opened, revealing Vice Admiral Garp. Garp raised an eyebrow, his scar stretching with it. "It's Enies Lobby sir! Spandam of CP9 called a Buster Call, Sir!" Coby noticed that the marine was shaking, as if he was really rattled by whatever had happened on Enies Lobby.

In sync, Coby and Helmeppo put down their reports to listen in. Whatever the marine was about to say was important enough to warrant a slight bit of worry on Vice Admiral Garp's face.

The two shared a quick look.

" _Buster Call?_ " Helmeppo mouthed silently.

" _Enies Lobby?_ " Coby asked, doing the same. He quirked his eyebrows in an imitation of a shrug and Helmeppo tipped his head in a short facsimile of a nod.

They turned their attention back to the Intelligence Officer, who was nervously telling Vice Admiral Garp what had happened.

"Cipher Pol Nine had one Nico Robin in custody and had her at Enies Lobby. She was to be taken to the Gates of Justice when..." The officer faltered as if he had trouble believing what happened actually happened.

"Get on with it," Garp ordered.

The marine snapped to attention, a worried look crossing his face. "Sir! There was a complication. CP9 was defeated by the Straw Hat Pirates led by Monkey D. Luffy."

Vice Admiral Garp went stony-faced, and he pulled the hapless officer into Fleet Admiral Sengoku's office. Coby and Helmeppo shared a disconcerted look before shooting to their feet and to the office door. Pressing his ear to the wood of the door, Coby could just hear the Intelligence Officer telling the Fleet Admiral in full detail what he'd just told Vice Admiral Garp.

Quietly, Coby relayed what he could hear. "Happened last night into this afternoon... CP9 was defeated, despite Admiral Aokiji allowing Spandam the power of a Buster Call..." Coby frowned, trying to make out the next bit. "The Straw Hat crew escaped on... something, I thought I heard something about a sheep's head, but whatever the ship was, I _think_ it sank." Scowling, Coby pressed his ear to the door a little harder. "I think... I think they might be going to Water... 7? Yeah. Water 7." Coby nodded, still listening; however, it just sounded like Vice Admiral Garp and Fleet Admiral Sengoku were discussing the turn of events.

Helmeppo was writing everything down when an amused voice said, "I swear if Bogart hadn't called dibs on the two of you, I would be molding you for Intel Ops."

Startled, Helmeppo's hand jerked and he scratched ink over the paper he was writing on. Coby fell back, smacking into the doorframe. Even the two marines who had originally been standing just outside the door looked startled and guilty at eavesdropping.

"C-Captain Lukin!" Coby moved to stand and salute, but the captain held up a hand.

"At ease. I have a report for the old man." He stepped around Coby and rapped his knuckles on the door. "Sir? It's Captain Lukin Varnava. I have an urgent message for Vice Admiral Garp." Lukin's voice was calm and professional, a sharp contrast to the nervous officer who first showed up. The door opened and he stepped through. Coby resumed listening, but Lukin's voice was pitched too low for Coby to properly hear and he didn't learn anything.

Eventually, Coby sighed and shook his head at Helmeppo, who was hastily re-writing what Coby had said before Captain Lukin had startled them. Helmeppo wrote the last letter and gently blew on the ink to help it dry. The two finally stood, waiting for the door to open and for Vice Admiral Garp to exit. After a while, Captain Lukin left the Fleet Admiral's office with the panicked Intelligence Officer in tow. He nodded at the two boys who saluted in return.

A moment later, Coby distinctly heard Fleet Admiral Sengoku say, "Why is it always _yours_ that causes trouble, Garp?" followed by Vice Admiral Garp's boisterous laughter.

Coby and Helmeppo fell in step behind Garp as the Vice Admiral walked down the hallway. Coby followed in concerned silence, waiting for Garp to potentially tell them what was going on without being prompted. It didn't really work and the walk was silent until Coby finally worked up the courage to ask, "Sir? What's going on?"

For a few moments, Garp didn't answer. Then he finally said, "An acquaintance of yours destroyed Enies Lobby, the Judiciary Island."

"I understand that, sir," Coby said mildly. _Two can play at this game_. "But I am curious as to what actually happened."

Coby couldn't see it, but he was sure Garp was grinning, just as he was sure Helmeppo was giving him a look saying to quit while he was ahead. Coby pressed on. "Why would my... acquaintance risk everything by going to Enies Lobby?" _Why would Luffy do something so incredibly stupid?_ went unasked.

“He’s an idiot,” Garp said bluntly.

"You can't exactly argue with that one," Helmeppo muttered. Coby gave him a look. "You know I'm right."

Coby sighed and asked, "Where is he now?"

Vice Admiral Garp was silent for a few moments. "Water 7. Why, do you want to go?"

Coby paused and looked at Garp with a stunned expression across his face. "Can we?" Coby thought about the maps he'd studied. "That's not that far from here. It's really not." He tried to hide his excitement at potentially seeing Luffy again. He knew he wasn’t really supposed to be excited about potentially seeing a pirate, but Luffy was Luffy, and Coby figured he should jump at the chance to see his friend.

Helmeppo joined in the begging. “Please? You’d get a chance to evaluate the situation yourself?” he added.

“If you do that, you can determine how much of a threat they are?” Coby tried. “Or if they’re even as much of a threat as they might be?”

Garp looked at the two, staring them down. “I know you’re playing me,” he said. “I know you’re playing me but damn if it isn’t working. I’ve got business with that Straw Hat anyway.” He walked down the hall.

Coby and Helmeppo grinned at each other and Coby held up a fist, which Helmeppo bumped. They hurried after Garp, following him as he strode down the hallway ordering marines to get his ship ready for transport.

The turnabout was quick-paced, and within the hour Vice Admiral Garp’s ship was ready to sail, complete with his usual set of officers and other underlings. They lined up rank and file before Vice Admiral Garp, a sea of white and blue. Foot soldiers formed a path to the gangway that Vice Admiral Garp was walking toward, his officers in tow – Coby and Helmeppo included. The foot soldiers fell in behind Coby and Helmeppo as they made their way up the gangway and onto Garp’s ship.

Once boarded, Coby and Helmeppo stayed out of the way but still made themselves useful. There really hadn’t been much to do, and they found themselves in the cargo hold. Helmeppo sat on a short stack of boxes and Coby looked around, trying to figure out what exactly seemed amiss.

“Why do we always end up in with the cargo?” Helmeppo asked, shoving his visor up and rubbing his hands over his eyes.

“Because it’s habit by now?” Coby offered. “And no one would expect to find a couple of petty officers in the cargo?”  He frowned. Something was just not sitting right with Coby, and he couldn’t figure out what it was. “Does something seem strange to you?” he asked, turning his attention to Helmeppo.

“What do you mean?” Helmeppo asked, but he looked around anyway. “Nothing’s different…. Wait.” Coby watched Helmeppo walk around, inspecting the cargo hold with fresh eyes. “Is it just me,” Helmeppo started slowly, “or are there a lot more cannonballs than you would think there would be on a ship this size and for the length of the trip this is?”

Coby nodded. “That’s what I was thinking,” he agreed. “But why would the Vice Admiral need so many cannonballs?”

Helmeppo shrugged. “I’m not sure. Do you think it’d be smart to bring this up?”

Shaking his head, Coby said, “Probably not. He probably already knows.” He huffed. “Vice Admiral Garp probably made sure there were a lot of these here, and this is probably normal.” Coby bit at a knuckle on his hand. “I mean, it _is_ Vice Admiral Garp.”

Snorting, Helmeppo replied, “That’s true.” He sat back down on the stack of boxes. “This trip takes what, a day, day and a half?”

“Something like that, yeah.” Glancing around again, Coby took in the cannonballs. “For a thirty hour trip one way, this seems like there are way too many.”

“Saying something is like asking for the old man to hand us our asses,” Helmeppo stated bluntly. “I really don’t want that today.” He scrunched his nose and made a face. “I never really want to get my ass handed to me, but I swear that’s the job of the people training us.”

Coby rolled his shoulders. “Come on, Bogart’s probably looking for us, and I’d rather we find him than he find us.” Coby paled, thinking about the consequences. “I don’t want to give him time to plot.”

Helmeppo shuddered, thinking about the last time they had forced Bogart to look for them. The man was quiet, but incredibly devious, and getting on his bad side seemed like a terrible life choice that neither Coby nor Helmeppo particularly wanted to make.

The two petty officers went to the deck where they stayed out of the way since Bogart told them to keep out of the way and that there really wasn’t anything for them to do. So they wound up in the crow’s nest, a structure that looked decidedly like a doghouse. Granted, Garp’s ship had a whole canine theme going on, so it wasn’t like the crow’s nest was out of place. They spent most of the trip chatting in the crow’s nest, training with either Bogart or Lukin, or sitting in the infirmary waiting for Doctor Ren to stop laughing so she could tape up Coby’s hand. Prior to the incident, Coby didn’t think a doctor would laugh so hard at their own patient. The answer to a question he had never even thought to ask was apparently, _medical professionals can and will laugh at their own patients, sometimes with gusto_. The doctor spent a good half hour or more cackling and trying to articulate herself in Parlar, but couldn’t coherently string two words together without bursting into laughter again.

When the doctor finally stopped laughing long enough to actually speak, she was still only about half-understandable, her native West Blue tongue peppering her speech. Eventually Coby just snapped something back. Evidently, whatever he’d said, though it wasn’t in Parlar, was enough to start the doctor back in on her laughter, and she was still laughing when she finished taping up Coby’s hand and the two petty officers left, Coby beet red and Helmeppo snickering.

The trip was quick, and the ship landed at Water 7 in record time. The island had a feel to it that was unusual. The city was half-destroyed and looked water logged, but people were out and about and rebuilding, making Water 7 vibrant and full of life.

Of course, the citizens were wary of Vice Admiral Garp and the marines he’d brought with him as they made their way through the city to the mayor’s mansion where the Straw Hat crew was apparently staying.

“I wonder what they mean by saved the mayor,” Coby murmured to Helmeppo.

“Probably what it sounds like,” Helmeppo responded quietly. “But that seems too easy.”

“You’re right; it’s probably not that simple.” Coby watched from the corner of his eye as Helmeppo shifted into what the doctor had diagnosed as his _Chronic Resting Bitch Face_ and Coby composed himself as they and the troops approached the mayor’s mansion despite an attempt to hold the Marines back at the gate.

As the troop approached the mansion, Garp held up a hand. “Wait here.”

“Yessir!” Coby and Helmeppo snapped, saluting. They split, and stood on either side of Vice Admiral Garp, facing the marines rather than the old man.

 _I’m going to regret this in a minute,_ Coby thought, settling his weight low in his hips and prepping himself for what was probably going to be a decent wait. Coby could just see Helmeppo doing the same on the other side of Garp when the Vice Admiral reared back and punched down the wall.

Startled, Coby straightened his form and shared a look with Helmeppo.

“ _What the fuck?!_ ” Helmeppo mouthed.

Coby made a face, shaking his head and shrugging, just as confused and concerned as Helmeppo. He could see the concerned line of marines maybe fifty feet away and their bewilderment made Coby feel a bit better about not having seen Garp punching in a wall coming.

Coby listened in on Garp speaking to the people he assumed were in the room. He could hear them freaking out about how “Garp the Fist” just broke down a wall. Coby winced at the sound of fist meeting skull reverberating, followed by Luffy complaining about how his head hurt.

“Rubber shouldn’t hurt,” Coby hissed at Helmeppo who mimicked Coby’s earlier baffled shrug.

“Grandpa!?” Luffy shouted at that moment, and Coby felt everyone freeze.

“ _What?!_ ” he hissed at Helmeppo, who responded with an eloquent, “The fuck if I know!”

While normally Coby and Helmeppo would have been in a state of bored guarding in any other situation, this conversation ended up with them hanging on every word while staring at each other with confused looks on their faces.

“It makes way too much sense,” Coby said weakly, listening to Garp list off the things that he forced Luffy to do to make him strong. The list sounded an awful lot like what he’d had Coby and Helmeppo do since they were sort of promoted to petty officers.

“It explains so much,” Helmeppo agreed, pinching the bridge of his nose. “No wonder Luffy has such a strong will to live.”

“ _I trained you to be a strong marine!_ ” Garp shouted, and Coby sighed.

“ _And I said I wanted to be a pirate!_ ” Luffy shouted right back, and Coby put his face in his hands, willing the insanity to end.

Thirty seconds later, a trio of voices exclaimed something about sleep and Coby just stood up straight, leaned back against the wall, and started hitting the back of his head against it.

“You should probably stop while you’re ahead,” Helmeppo said. “It’s only going to go downhill from here.”

Coby sighed, stopped hitting his head against the wall, and settled himself back in stance for a long wait. “He’s an idiot,” he finally said.

Helmeppo nodded. “Yep. They both are.”

Coby and Helmeppo listened in on Garp explaining to Luffy how the emperors worked in the New World side of the Grand Line.

A minute or two into the explanation, a commotion broke out at the gate to the manor property. There was a nervous vocal ripple backwards of _Roronoa Zoro_. Garp appeared to notice, as he ordered, “Well boys… Try to stop him!”

“Sir!” they chimed, stepping away from the wall. Helmeppo dove in first, drawing his two kukri blades from their scabbards and drawing Zoro’s attention.

While that was going on, Luffy tried to yell at Zoro to get him to stop fighting marines, but Coby interfered, dropping in front of Luffy and kicking upwards, distracting the rubbery pirate.

“The hell, you bastard?” Luffy exclaimed, rearing back to throw a punch.

Coby dodged the punch, speeding away using a technique he’d finally figured out a week previous. “ _Soru_ ,” he murmured, slipping around behind Luffy.

He didn’t catch Luffy’s expression, but Coby _did_ hear Luffy say something to himself about, “This technique!” before Coby ran at him from behind. Luffy grabbed Coby’s collar before Coby could throw a punch, flipping Coby over onto his back. Coby yelped as he was grabbed, and after landing, threw up a hand to try to stop the fist that Luffy was aiming at his face.

There was a _chink_ as Zoro held two swords at the crooks of Helmeppo’s neck.

A marine called, “Petty officer!” as another cried, “Chief Petty Officer!” in alarm.

Garp laughed and said, “They’re no match for those boys!”

Coby just grinned up at Luffy and stated, “Oh, wow, you’ve gotten strong. I give up.” Coby shifted to stand and dust himself off. As he did so, Coby asked, “Long time no see, Luffy, Zoro. Do you know who I am?”

Luffy had a confused look on his face. “Who… are you?” he asked.

Coby was only thrown for a split second. “It’s me! Coby! Don’t you remember me?”

Luffy’s intense confusion only got worse as he tried to think. “Coby… Coby… Coby’s my friend, but I only know a short one,” he said eventually.

Coby nodded emphatically. “That’s me! I’m that Coby! Kind of a crybaby?”

“That’s _you!?_ ” Luffy exclaimed. Zoro looked taken aback.

“How did you end up on the Grand Line?” Zoro asked, shocked.

“I’m not an officer yet,” Coby said. “But when I heard you were close, well, I had to come say hello!” He grinned. Helmeppo sidled up, standing beside Coby. “A lot of stuff happened, and well, here we are now!”

Luffy grinned back, evidently pleased. “Man, there should be a limit to how fast you grow up!” Luffy nudged Coby. “You were so short.” Coby grinned, rubbing the back of his head with a hand. “Now look at you!” Slinging his arm around Coby’s shoulder, Luffy lead Coby off, picking up Zoro on the way.

“Sorry to bother you so soon after what happened, but I didn’t know when I would get another chance to see you,” Coby explained.

“You’re here now, right? Let’s go eat!” Luffy laughed.

Helmeppo made a strangled noise. “Wait! Don’t you remember me?” he exclaimed in a distressed tone.

Luffy turned around, tipping his head. “…no?” Zoro just looked confused.

“It’s me! Helmeppo!” he tried. “I tried to kill you that one time?” Coby dropped his face in his hands. Zoro joined in on the head tipping. “I had Zoro tied up, tried to get Luffy killed, you guys got my father arrested…”

Coby moved back to Helmeppo. “Stop while you’re ahead,” he said.

“Oh! Now I know who you are,” Luffy said. “I think…”

Helmeppo dramatically clutched his heart and leaned on Coby. “I can never forgive them like this!”

Coby just patted Helmeppo’s head sympathetically. “Can’t be helped, Helmeppo. It happened and you can’t make it un-happen.”

“Well then gentlemen,” Garp said, addressing the marine troops. “Fix up the wall.”

While Coby slammed his hand into his face, there was a clamor from the marines. “Sir, you broke the wall!” one said.

“We’ll fix it!” another added. “But you have to help us.”

“Fine, fine,” Garp said, agreeing.

There was a lull as the collection of marines started reconstruction on the wall Vice Admiral Garp had knocked down. The marines bustled about efficiently as they collected wood and started placing boards in place.

After a while, Coby, on the outside of the building, heard Garp say, “So I heard you met your dad, Luffy.”

There was a quiet pause as everyone contemplated who, exactly, could be Monkey D. Luffy’s father. Coby shrugged when Helmeppo shot him a questioning look.

“Your father’s name,” Garp continued nonchalantly, “is Monkey D. Dragon, the Revolutionary.”

The dead silence was punctuated by the sound of tools and wood and nails being unceremoniously dropped in shock and horror, followed by a few thuds as people fell over in stunned silence. Garp continued rhythmically tapping a nail into the wall.

All of a sudden there was a clamoring. The Straw Hat crew was freaking out and the marines were clustering together, gossiping in a tightly packed ball on the other side of the yard.

Coby was one that had fallen over in shock. “That… that explains so much,” he said quietly to Helmeppo, who just nodded back. “That… I… um. What?”

“Wait… _Does that mean that **that** Dragon is Vice Admiral Garp’s son?!_ ” Helmeppo exclaimed, realization hitting him.

There was a high pitched whistling sound from the ranks that sounded like a deflating balloon. “What is wrong with you people!” shouted a marine.

“That makes too much sense!” croaked another.

Coby wasn’t listening to the woman with dark hair explaining to Luffy who Dragon was, but he knew she was. He was just repeating, “Oh my god,” to himself while Helmeppo helped him up off the dirt. “Oh my god, his dad’s the most wanted man in the world. Holy _shit_ ,” Coby said.

Garp finally turned around and looked at everyone. “Maybe I shouldn’t have said anything,” he stated, scratching his head. “Never mind about any of that.”

There was another stunned silence.

Then there was a collective screech from the marines in the area as Garp started laughing.

Sometime later the wall was complete, and Garp stood on the outside, looking at Luffy. “You’re my grandson,” he declared, “That’s why I’m going to let you be and what my report’s going to say.”

“That’s… not an excuse,” Bogart said, having finally appeared during the process of reconstruction. “Let’s just say they got away.”

“Bah! I’m not even here to catch them! I’m just tagging along!” Garp stood tall and proud and Coby just slowly placed his face in his hands. “Have fun catching up. I’m leaving.”

“Alright. Bye.” Luffy said his goodbye flippantly, holding up a hand.

“TREAT ME WITH RESPECT YOU BRAT,” Garp yelled, getting into another fight with Luffy.

While that was going on, Coby turned to Zoro. “Sorry about this,” he said quietly. “The Vice Admiral is kind of… excitable.”

Zoro just looked at Coby. “I finally understand so much about Luffy. How are _you_ holding up with him?”

Coby chuckled and scratched the back of his head. “Well, it’s tough,” he said. “But it’s worth it.”

The fight ended. “Boys! Be back by sundown!” Garp yelled, turning away and leading the marines out of the courtyard.

Coby and Helmeppo saluted, seeing him off.

There was a beat of silence.

“He’s gone,” Luffy said. He grinned. “Coby!” Luffy turned around and grabbed Coby, laughing loudly. Coby laughed too, caught up in Luffy’s excitement.

“Hi Luffy,” Coby said when Luffy had stopped spinning them.

Despite knowing Luffy and knowing what he was like, Coby still wasn’t expecting Luffy to pick him up and carry him over to a pile of rubble. “I’m gonna talk to Coby for a while,” Luffy called to his crew, and the group, led by Zoro, retreated back into the manor. Helmeppo followed Luffy and Coby to the pile of rubble, sitting down on a lower patch of debris. “So how’d you get to the Grand Line anyway? Did you go over that awesome mountain?” Luffy asked excitedly.

“Reverse mountain?” Coby tipped his head. “Oh! No, we sailed right through the Calm Belt.” Coby didn’t mention just how nerve wracking that was. “Ships from Headquarters have that ability.”

“Really?” Luffy seemed shocked. “How? There’s Sea Kings bigger than warships in there!” Luffy threw up his hands. “It was like _hell_ when we tried.”

Coby looked around, checking for anyone or anything that could probably hear them. “Helmeppo, did you happen to see any snails or anything?” he said quietly.

Helmeppo just shook his head. “No, I didn’t.”

Coby nodded to himself. “I probably shouldn’t tell you this, Luffy,” he said. “But it’s not _exactly_ a secret, so we’re probably okay. I mean, it’s not exactly an unknown substance.” Coby took a deep breath before launching into an explanation. “So HQ ships have what’s known as sea stone coating the undersides of the ships.”

Luffy looked confused. “What’s that mean?”

“Well, sea stone has the same energy as the sea,” Coby elaborated, “so when we sail, the fish don’t see us.” He shrugged. “It’s not perfect, and even professionals whose job entails finding out secret information are uneasy in the Calm Belt.” Coby gestured as he spoke, eventually leaning back against the stones.

“That is _so cool_ ,” Luffy breathed, sounding a little star struck. Coby stared up at the bright blue sky and smiled.

“Dr. Vegapunk – he’s the main scientist for the Navy – has done an amazing job,” Helmeppo added. “He even figured out how to ‘feed’ Devil Fruit to inanimate objects!” He made a face when he said feed, flipping up his hands to make air quotes at the same time.

“Whoa,” Luffy said, in awe. Coby could see the way the thought of something potentially very cool was lighting up Luffy’s eyes beneath his straw hat.

“Whoa indeed,” Coby said, grinning. “There are so many amazing people in the world.” He rubbed the back of his head. “My world was so small before I met you,” he said quietly. “If we hadn’t met… I’d probably still be on Alvida’s ship.”

Luffy burst out into laughter. “Yep, probably,” he agreed. “Oh man, the reason you were even _on_ that ship is ridiculous.” Coby found himself laughing too. Luffy was right – getting on the wrong boat to go fishing _was_ ridiculous.

“Wait, I don’t think I know this story,” Helmeppo said. Between Coby and Luffy, they managed to get out the story of how they’d met – a story that Coby hadn’t actually told Helmeppo. By the end, Helmeppo was snickering with them.

They talked for a good period of time and the sun was eventually starting to drift towards the horizon.

“Do you really have to leave?” Luffy asked. “Stay and eat with us.”

Coby shook his head. “We’re enemies. We _probably_ shouldn’t act too friendly.” He made a face. “Luffy! Do you know what the second half of the Grand Line is called?” he asked.

Luffy shook his head in a negative. To be honest, Coby had expected that. “People know that part of the sea as the ‘New World’.”

“The New World…” Luffy repeated.

“Whoever gets to the end of the New World will make it to Raftel and become the Pirate King!” Coby stood straight as he made his declaration. “Let’s meet again in the New World!” Coby could almost feel the weight of Zoro’s slight smile in approval. He nodded. “I’ll catch you next time! We’ll both be so much stronger than we are now,” he finished. “One day, I’ll become a Marine… A Marine Admiral!” he stated loudly.

There was a short silence as Coby processed what _exactly_ he had just said.

 _Shit. There is no going back now,_ he thought, clapping his hands to his mouth. _I just said that. I really, **really** just said that._

“S-sorry! I got. I got carried away.” He could feel himself blushing, the blood rushing to his face. “Oh god I never meant to say that,” he moaned.

“Coby.” Luffy’s voice was calm and collected, a marked difference from his usual exuberant tone. “You’re gonna fight us, right?” Coby gave him a confused nod. “Then you have to be an Admiral!” Luffy nodded once. “The Straw Hats will be stronger, the next time we meet. A lot stronger!”

_It’s a thought I’ve only entertained, but… how does he have this much belief in **me**?_

“What’s this? Still a crybaby, Coby?” Zoro asked. He was smiling.

Coby dropped to his knees and bowed. “I’m really glad I got to see you again!” _It’s going to be so much work just to catch up…_ “We’ll be much stronger! Let’s meet again in the New World!” Coby said suddenly, pushing himself to his feet.

“Get ready punks!” Helmeppo added.

They nodded at Luffy and Zoro, waving before turning and sprinting back to where Vice Admiral Garp’s ship was docked, and despite what the two originally thought, they didn’t head back to Headquarters right away, and stayed in the area for an extra day before heading back.

Halfway back, Vice Admiral Garp got a snail call from Headquarters directing the crew back to Water 7.  Once back on Water 7, Admiral Aokiji boarded Vice Admiral Garp’s ship and set up shop on the deck, lounging in a folding chair with his blindfold over his eyes.

Where Garp’s officers ignored the Admiral, prompting Coby and Helmeppo to take a leaf from their book and pretend he wasn’t there, the rest of the crew wasn’t so amiable to the Admiral being on the ship, making them nervous and edgy. Most of the crew was confused as to why the Admiral had taken up residence on Garp’s ship but none had voiced the concern.

On the second day after they’d re-docked on Water 7, Captain Lukin had appeared, telling Garp that the Straw Hats were about to set off. The ship bustled to life.

“Sir…” Coby ventured, addressing Vice Admiral Garp. “Isn’t it a bit embarrassing that we have to go after the Straw Hats?” He bit his lip. “Since we parted with that crew on good terms?”

“Blame Sengoku!” Garp responded. “We’re back here because he got mad!” The Vice Admiral was annoyed, pacing the breadth of the ship.

Admiral Aokiji hummed from his lounge chair. “You provoked him, you know,” he said, not moving.

“Shut up greenhorn!” Garp snapped. Coby took a step back from Garp. He recognized that tone from months of training under it and wanted to be out of the line of fire. “Take us around to where the Straw Hat Crew is!”

“Sir!” collectively came from Garp’s crew, who scattered across the ship and launched her, sending the ship on a course to the other side of the island.

Not long after, Coby caught sight of Luffy’s new ship. “Sir! The Straw Hats are in sight!” he called, jumping out of the crow’s nest and sliding down to the deck.

Garp simply nodded, pulling out a megaphone. “Hey Luffy!” he shouted through it. “This is your grandpa speaking!”  
“Grandpa! What’s happening? You said you wouldn’t arrest us here!” Luffy shouted back; Coby could hear confusion warring with panic in his voice.

“Some stuff happened!” Garp responded. “Sorry to say, but you’ll have to drown here!”

Coby shared a look with Helmeppo. “He doesn’t sound sorry at all.”

Helmeppo just returned Coby’s look with a stare. “It’s Garp. Of course he doesn’t.”

Behind them, Bogart snorted. “He’s not sorry at all,” the man said, startling Coby and Helmeppo. “He’ll feel bad for a while, but he’ll get over it.” He shrugged when the two petty officers looked at him.

Meanwhile, Garp had a marine hand him a cannonball, which he proceeded to toss in hand like a baseball.

Coby watched in a combination of horror and amazement as Garp wound up and pitched the cannonball. “Iron Fist Meteor,” he roared, missing the ship by mere meters.

“Is… is he using what I think he’s using?” Coby said, his eyes wide.

“Is that a _Meteor Barrage?_ ” Helmeppo breathed, awed. “A ship wouldn’t stand a chance against that!”

Garp was laughing. “Bring a thousand cannonballs!” he called, throwing off his coat and suit jacket. He cracked his knuckles as marines brought up the many cannonballs Coby and Helmeppo had seen on their first sail out to Water 7. “Shall we start, kids?” Garp said, mostly to himself. He started pitching cannonballs, which the Straw Hat Crew valiantly tried to defend against.

There was a shouting from shore and Coby looked out to see a young man with a long nose trying to get the attention of the pirate crew. Coby could only assume that the young man was a crew member of theirs. When he shouted he was sorry, and Luffy stretched out a hand, Coby was at once surprised and not surprised in the slightest.

Luffy had shouted a goodbye, forgetting Helmeppo again, and Coby had waved back.

“We’ll meet again!” Luffy shouted.

Garp puffed up, grabbing another cannonball to throw – a huge, monstrously sized cannonball that Coby wasn’t _entirely_ sure where it came from.

The ship launched itself out of the way and out of sight.

There was collective shock from Vice Admiral Garp’s crew.

“They’ve done it now,” Garp muttered, sounding proud.

“That was amazing,” Coby murmured, a grin splitting his face. His grin didn’t even fade when he saw Helmeppo’s horrified stare.

Garp started laughing. “That’s my grandson!” he said, his laughter booming across the ship.


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In which Marineford Happens

Everyone at Marine Headquarters knew generally what had happened within hours the day Portgas D. Ace was brought in by Blackbeard. There were rumors that the island was never going to be the same after the two pirates fought.

Coby was just glad that he wasn’t actually near Garp when the Vice Admiral found out, since he and Helmeppo had heard what happened to the marine who’d told him. An ensign had told them that the marine had been pitched through a window, luckily landing on another marine two stories below.

“That’s what I heard, anyway,” the other officer said, brushing her bangs from her face. “My commanding officer saw it. He said the poor guy landed on Brannew and just missed Vice Admiral Stainless.” The officer shuddered. “You should probably avoid Garp for now. Word is he’s… tetchy.”

Coby smiled humorlessly. “Thanks. But he’s usually tetchy, and I don’t think he’ll throw us out windows.”

“Probably won’t,” Helmeppo added.

The other officer nodded. “You know him better than I do,” she said. “What’re your names?”

“Coby.”

“Helmeppo.”

“Tashigi. It’s nice to meet you both.” She tipped her head at them. “You’re both from East Blue, right?”

“Yeah.” Coby nodded. “I’m from the southern part, near the Grand Line. Helmeppo’s from an area a bit further north, near the 153rd branch.”

“What about you?” Helmeppo asked. “Since it sounds like you’re a native too.”

Tashigi grinned. “Loguetown.”

“Wait. Does that make your commanding officer _Commodore Smoker?_ ” Coby asked.

She nodded. “Yes he is. Is that a problem?” Tashigi shifted her glasses, her hair having settled on them again.

“Not at all!” Coby said, putting his hands in front of him in a placating manner. “He’s very good at what he does.”

Tashigi smiled wanly, but before she could say anything, the three heard a gruff voice yelling her name. “I have to go. It was nice meeting you both,” she said, turning to leave.

“Same,” Coby said.

“Have a nice day,” Helmeppo added.

Tashigi turned back and smiled at them before leaving.

After a moment, Coby said, “She was nice.”

“She was,” Helmeppo responded.

“We’re gonna end up working with her a lot, aren’t we?”

“Probably.”

Coby nodded, and the two carefully made their way to Garp’s office. It wasn’t likely that the Vice Admiral was actually going to _be_ in his office, but it seemed a logical place for the two Petty Officers to wait for him. Oddly enough, Garp was just outside his office talking to Tsuru.

“Pirate or not, Fire Fist is still your grandson,” Tsuru said. “At the very least go talk to him. Sengoku and I can keep an eye on your apprentices.” Garp grumbled and Tsuru smacked his arm. “Don’t be childish. Those boys of yours are here.”

Startled, Coby and Helmeppo saluted, greeting the two Vice Admirals.

“Boys, this is Tsuru. She’s keeping you for a couple of days while I go talk to my other idiot grandson,” Garp said. He turned on his heel and left, leaving Coby and Helmeppo to nervously stare at Vice Admiral Tsuru.

The elderly woman sighed. “Garp you idiot,” she said. “Your usual commanding officers are Garp’s staff and he’ll take them all with him.” Tsuru pressed her fingertips to the bridge of her nose. “Right. Follow me.”

Coby and Helmeppo barely had enough time to glance at each other before Tsuru was quickly walking down the hall. They hurried after her through the base to a different office, where they waited for a few moments while she went inside.

“Now that that’s cleared up, you two are temporarily under my command,” Tsuru said.

They both saluted, but Coby asked, “Vice Admiral… what are we supposed to be doing?”

“You will be spending the next two days training with my crew,” Tsuru answered simply. “I have my own recent recruits that could use a refreshing change of pace.”

Coby and Helmeppo shared a horrified glance, but they followed Tsuru to where her crew was settled, meeting her crew and training with them while Garp was at Impel Down. The North Blue crew was different – more closely knit than Garp’s crew, the women of Tsuru’s crew were formidable. But for the two Petty Officers, working with them for two days proved invaluable, as they got a different perspective on another crew.

The two days Garp was gone passed quickly, and Fire Fist’s execution date was set for a little more than a month later.

Every marine at Headquarters could tell there was trouble brewing.

In the month before the execution, Coby noticed an increasingly large number of civilians leaving the town of Marineford, bound for the Sabaody Archipelago. An ever increasing amount of marines poured into Headquarters as well, giving weight to the situation.

Preparations went well for Coby, who was mainly helping transfer equipment from near the execution field to the far side of the town, well away from harm, until the day before the execution.

He froze as his vision started greying out, fading from the outside corners to the center of his sight.

Helmeppo nudged Coby, who shut his eyes and clasped a hand over them, breathing harshly, Setting down the metal he was carrying, Coby leaned against a wall, prompting Helmeppo to ask in a panic, “Are you alright? What happened?”

It took a few minutes for Coby to answer, and even then he didn’t take his hand from his eyes. “Something…” Coby swallowed. “Something happened to my friend. I… I think he’s dying?” He finally looked at Helmeppo, whose coloration was faded out, though not completely grey. “Whatever happened, it’s really bad.”

Helmeppo nodded. “Right, right.” He glanced around, not spotting anyone. “Okay. Do you want to find Dr. Ren? I’m pretty sure she’s good at this sort of thing.”

Coby tipped his head faintly. The sudden greys had left him lightheaded, and he leaned against a wall. “Give me a minute,” he said, taking deep breaths. A few minutes later, Coby stood up, adjusting to the change.

“Are you sure you’re okay?” Helmeppo asked. Coby nodded. “Liar. I’m pretty sure you nearly fainting because _you know who_ decided to be an idiot _is a bad thing_.” Helmeppo took Coby’s arm, leading him away from the metal piles. “We’ll move them later. Medical office. Now.” Helmeppo lead Coby through a set of back alleys to the base itself and once there, through a number of unused halls to the medical wing.

“Dr. Ren?” he tried tentatively.

The doctor was meeting with a number of others, including the head of Marine Medical, Dr. Fishbonen. She excused herself with a brief word, walking over to the two. “What seems to be the problem, boys?” she asked, looking them over.

Helmeppo nudged Coby toward her. “A sudden grey-out.”

The doctor blinked. “Your _soul mate_ is dying?” she asked, tipping Coby’s face towards her. When he nodded, she directed them to a station some distance away from the rest of the talking doctors. “Symptoms?”

“Lightheaded, dizzy,” Coby answered. “It happened quickly.”

Dr. Ren narrowed her eyes. “That’s unusual. Normally there’s a slow fade in. How long ago did the greying start?”

“Half an hour?” Coby guessed. “It took a couple of minutes for me to adjust to everything being washed out.”

Making a noise, the doctor walked to a desk and pulled out a sheet of paper, placing it on a clipboard. When she returned, she said, “Listen kid, there’s two ways this can end up. One – everything is grey. Two – the color returns.” She sighed. “As for why it set in so quickly… your guess is as good as mine. I’ve never heard of that happening.” She looked at Coby, who stared back. “Get some rest. I know the lower officers have been getting run ragged the last couple of weeks, and with something like this, time is your best bet.” Dr. Ren pointed at Coby. “Doctor’s orders. And you,” she rounded on Helmeppo. “You make sure he listens. The next 48 hours are going to be a _mess_ and we need everyone in tip-top shape.”

“Yes’m,” Helmeppo answered.

“Of course,” Coby said.

“Good. Now get out of here, we have to finish getting Medical set up.” She shooed them out of the infirmary.

Helmeppo dragged Coby to their dorm, despite Coby insisting he was fine. Ignoring him, Helmeppo made sure Coby at the very least got into bed. Sleep was up to Coby, but Helmeppo was going to make sure he stayed there.

Headquarters that night was eerily quiet. Coby managed to fall into an uneasy sleep late in the night, sleeping fitfully.

Morning dawned bright and calm. Staring at the ceiling, Coby realized his sight was still in color. Flicking some hair into his eyes, he noted that it was still as bright as ever. He sighed in relief.

Getting out of bed, Coby stretched a bit before readying himself for the day. He just _knew_ something was going to go catastrophically wrong, and managed to slam a drawer shut a bit too loudly, causing Helmeppo to sit up suddenly and blink owlishly at him.

The blond got out of his own bed and got dressed, grumpily staring Coby down.

“Today’s the day,” Coby said.

“Yeah, it is,” Helmeppo responded.

“Shall we?”

“Let’s.”

The two left their dorm and began a quick search for at least one of their commanding officers, finding Bogart pacing down the hallway of Garp’s office. The two stood, waiting, while they watched Bogart pace back and forth. Lukin turned up soon after, looking for all the world like he hadn’t slept more than five minutes at a time the night before.

“I’ve the postings,” he said, holding a scrap of paper. “They want you with the rest of the Rear Admirals,” he told Bogart, who tipped his head. “You two are in the ranks.” He ran his hands through his hair, composing himself. “Is Garp around?” he asked Bogart.

“With Sengoku.”

“Oh good. T-minus six hours. You boys better get in place,” Lukin said to Coby and Helmeppo.

They nodded, heading out of the base towards the center of Marineford. Once there, they noticed the area was slowly filling with subdued marines. Finding a place, they stood and started waiting.

The time between Coby and Helmeppo getting to the field and Portgas D. Ace being escorted out passed slowly. There was a tense air to the whole situation, like every marine in the area was waiting for a boot to drop.

When Portgas was escorted out and onto the execution platform and Fleet Admiral Sengoku announced exactly who his father was, the first boot dropped.

“ _Gold Roger? I thought Dragon was his father, since he and Luffy are brothers_ ,” Coby hissed to Helmeppo.

“ _I did too_ ,” Helmeppo hissed back.

All around them marines were in a similar state of confusion.

When Sengoku _continued_ , the area was dead silent, which made the sound of ships approaching all the louder.

Coby looked out over what bit of sea he could see when high ranking Marines called out that they could see Whitebeard’s allies approaching.

The second boot had started to fall, but Whitebeard’s fleet appearing in the center of Marineford’s bay was the landing.

Fighting broke out as marines worked to stop the pirates from advancing towards the execution platform, heedless of trying to say that he wasn’t worth saving.

Coby and Helmeppo were just trying to stay alive and together, defending themselves against the pirate onslaught. The whole town had erupted into chaos.

Coby ran to a spot where he could think more clearly in the battle, Helmeppo following.

“Coby what the hell?” Helmeppo said, grabbing the back of Coby’s shirt and turning him around.

"Everyone around us is dying," Coby said, gripping his friend's shoulders before pressing a hand to one of his ears. "It’s so _loud_." He was shaking, terrified of what was happening.

"Coby get a hold of yourself. We have to keep fighting," Helmeppo responded. "We can't just run away." He was breathing hard, also scared.

A sound in the street just beyond the one they were in made them both look over. A marine was running, clearly terrified witless. There was a cut off scream as he was covered in magma.

Coby watched as Akainu said, "Those who run are weak and must be culled."

Sharing a horrified look with Helmeppo, Coby was suddenly glad his friend had grabbed him and dragged him into the alleyway.

"This is _bad_ ," Coby said, leaning against the wall and sliding down it.

"Really bad," Helmeppo agreed, keeping an eye out.

A sudden shouting up in the air, unrelated to the war raging on the ground, gave people a short pause. Coby glanced up. "Is that... a battleship?" He asked, confused.

"I think so?" Helmeppo responded, squinting.

It soon became clear that whoever was yelling was yelling Fire Fist's name as they were falling from the sky.

“Is… is that _Luffy?_ ” Coby asked weakly.

“How… the hell,” Helmeppo stated.

“I…” Coby made a weak noise, covering his hands with his ears for a second, trying to block out the sound of everyone around him. He shook his head in an attempt to clear it, quieting everything for a moment. Looking around, Coby made a decision. He pushed himself up and away from the wall, running down the alleyway.

Helmeppo squawked, startled. “Coby, wait! What are you doing?!” he shouted.

Coby ignored him, running to where he felt he needed to be. Grey flicked at the edge of his sight, and he ignored that too, skidding to a stop in the plaza. He pressed a hand to his head and thought, _Damn it Luffy, this is **insane**_.

A minute – five minutes? – later, Coby spotted Luffy forcing his way through a throng of marines.

 _If I don’t try to fight him now,_ Coby thought, _I’ll always be weak_.

He sprinted at Luffy, who brushed past him and punched him in the face.

“-by. Coby!” Everything was fuzzy. Everything was fuzzy and someone was calling Coby’s name. “Oh thank god you’re alive.” Coby could feel their – his? – panic shifting into relief as Coby was hugged.

It was still loud. But the voices were slowly disappearing.

“Hel…meppo?” Coby asked. He put his hands to his face, pressing his fingertips against his eyes. Colors were starting to wash out again. He took a shaky breath. The sound of voices disappearing was getting louder.

“Yeah. It’s me, Helmeppo. That was _so stupid_ ,” Helmeppo said, hugging Coby tighter.

Coby’s stomach hitched and he shoved Helmeppo away, dropping to the ground before losing what little was in his stomach.

“ _Shit_ ,” Helmeppo muttered, dropping down beside him. “You’re not okay.”

Tears were rolling down Coby’s cheeks. “I’m… I’m _so sad_. Why am I sad?” His breath hitched on a sob, and Coby found himself being hugged. “What are these voices and why are they _disappearing_?”

“This is insane,” Helmeppo said, his voice shaking. “This is so bad.”

The two sat for an unknown amount of time before Coby forced himself to stand. “Everyone’s still fighting. Did – did Ace?”

“Admiral Akainu. He killed Fire Fist. Whitebeard is dead,” Helmeppo said.

“ _Then why are we still fighting?! We’ve done what we set out to do!_ ” Coby said, crying. He shook his head, pulling himself together. “Someone has to stop this.”

“Coby, what?” Coby recognized the panicked tone Helmeppo had said his name with, but ignored it, running to the center plaza. “Coby!”

“THAT’S ENOUGH!!!” Coby shouted, standing in front of Admiral Akainu.

There was a brief moment of silence, as everyone stood in shock. A battlefield’s worth of eyes turned to Coby.

“WE HAVE TO STOP THIS!!! WE HAVE TO STOP FIGHTING AND END THIS!!” Coby was a crying mess by that point, tears pouring down his face. “THIS IS A WASTE OF LIVES! EVERY MARINE HERE HAS A FAMILY WAITING FOR THEM!! WE’VE ALREADY COMPLETETED OUR GOAL!!” He sobbed. “CHASING PIRATES WHO DON’T WANT TO FIGHT… WAGING WARS _THAT COULD BE PREVENTED!!_ ABANDONING MARINES WHO CAN BE SAVED AND PILING MORE ON TOP OF THEM!” He took a breath. _“EVERY MARINE WHO FALLS FROM HERE OUT. DON’T YOU THINK THEY’LL LOOK LIKE…_ _LIKE COMPLETE IDIOTS?!_ ”

The Admiral looked confused and infuriated. “Seconds have been wasted. We don’t need soldiers who can’t keep facts straight,” he said, smoke billowing off him. Admiral Akainu pulled his fist back to obliterate Coby.

Coby blinked. _Shit. Shitshitshit. I’m going to die. But I said what I had to! I will not regret this!_

He threw up his arms in front of him, in an attempt to block the inevitable.

When he wasn’t obliterated into a small pile of ash, Coby glanced up.

“Well done, young marine,” was the last thing he heard.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> __  
>  **End Part One**   
> 


End file.
